Chapter 6

Klaus opened his eyes to see his bedroom in the Academy.

Almost a year since he'd been taken from here…

He took the briefcase and buried it in the back of his closet - unfortunately it was too big and bulky for his go-to hiding spot.

With that done, he looked down at his bloodstained arms, and sighed.

A bath was first on his agenda. Once he was clean, he would summon Frank. (And he should probably find out what happened to Ben…) Then he would take care of Hazel and Cha-Cha. The family meeting where he aired all the dirty laundry was last on his list. Before that could happen, he had to work out whether Five had already returned to the Commission yet.

It wasn't until he started stripping out of his uniform that he realized the blood wasn't entirely his enemies'. There were multiple wounds scattered across his body that he hadn't even felt until this moment. It seems rage and adrenaline had successfully drowned everything else out. Luckily none of it was too serious, so he didn't have to involve Mom, but it was definitely inconvenient.

He sank into the water with a groan. His muscles hurt, and the water made his cuts sting, but it felt so good. Even during downtime in the war, he'd never been able to have a real bath. Quick showers were the most any of them got, and those were few and far between.

Klaus had to drain and refill the bath multiple times before the water finally remained clear. The cool metal of Dave's dog tags kept him company as he wiped away the last physical remnant of Dave from his body. Dave… It would have been fifty years for his love whereas it had been less than a day for Klaus. He dreaded the thought of what had happened to Dave's spirit in the meantime. He never wanted to see Dave's soft, sweet features twisted like the rest of the insane dead. Maybe, if he was lucky, Dave had successfully passed fully on, but if that were true, there's nowhere Dave could be but Heaven. Could Klaus really pull him away from that? The person he had been before he met Dave wouldn't have hesitated. Klaus had always done what had benefited himself the most. And he still would, for the most part, but Dave had become an exception to every rule he'd ever set for himself.

He shouldn't decide now. There was plenty of time for that after he finished ruining the Commission's plans. They had killed Dave to get Klaus back in time for the apocalypse, and now he would ensure it wouldn't happen. He wouldn't decide what to do until after he'd finished with his revenge. (He knew Dave wouldn't approve of his methods, but. Dave wasn't here because of them.)

He finally levered himself out of the bathtub, deciding he was as clean as he was going to get. The soreness really set in as he walked back to his room, along with that infuriating itch that seemed to accompany time travel.

It was as he was getting dressed that Five showed up.

"You okay?" was the first thing Five asked, and Klaus was honestly a little taken aback. Asking after his well being? Was this really his brother?

"Yeah, just… long night," he mentally snorted at his own statement.

Five mirrored the response. "More than one, from the looks of it."

Ah, so there it was. It wasn't Klaus that he cared about, it was the fact that he'd time traveled.

Klaus responded in the affirmative pulling on a shirt.

"Don't remember the dog tags."

"Yeah, they belonged to a friend."

"How about that new tattoo?"

Five had indicated his squad tattoo, not the temple on his stomach. He wondered if Five had seen both and didn't care enough to comment, or if he just preferred the one with a clear indicator of where he had been.

"Like I said, it was a long night," he waved his Goodbye hand at Five in what should have been an obvious dismissal. Unfortunately Five didn't accept that.

"You did it, didn't you?" he sounded eager.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus played dumb. He wanted to know what made it so obvious to Five, beyond the tattoos and tags.

"You know I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus." At the lack of response, Five continued. "The jet lag. Full body itch. Headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain. You gonna tell me about it?"

Hmph. He'd have to do better at hiding the symptoms if he ever used the briefcase again.

He considered it for a few moments, then decided to tell Five at least part of the truth. Hazel and Cha-Cha were all that really remained of the Commission right now, and they were still actively working to stop Five. Best his brother knows at least some of the details to be better prepared.

"Your pals. When they shot up the house and couldn't find you, they took me instead."

"And in return, you stole their briefcase," Five sounded positively gleeful - the happiest Klaus had heard him since he'd returned.

"Yeah. It was obviously important to them, hid it in the vents and everything. I wanted to see what was in it, so I opened it."

"And the next thing you knew, you were… where? Or should I say when?"

"What difference does it make?" Klaus knew his brother didn't truly care. His focus was the case, not him.

"What diff - okay. How long were you gone?"

"A year."

"A year?" his brother stopped pacing and whirled on him. "Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now." Hooray for being the second oldest sibling.

"This isn't any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?" Five demanded. And ah, there it was, the whole purpose of this conversation, of Five's 'concern.'

"Gone. I destroyed it. Poof!" That wasn't technically a lie - he had destroyed Hazel and Cha-Cha's briefcase. He wouldn't tell Five about the second one.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Five was angry now, all traces of glee vanished.

"What do you care?"

"What do I care? I needed it, you moron, so I could get back. I could start over!"

This Five definitely wasn't the same one who had destroyed part of the Commission. He wondered when exactly that had happened. The family meeting couldn't really happen until they were all on the same page, and for that, Five needed to hurry up and get his shit together. Either way, this conversation was no longer important. The sooner he left, the sooner Five would go after the assassins, and maybe get their boss involved. If he was being re-recruited, he probably wouldn't manage to kill two of his coworkers, so Klaus would still get his shot at them. But that meant they needed to live long enough for Five to reach them… Ugh. Klaus hated time travel. He pushed past Five and headed back to the bathroom where he had left the remnants of his uniform.

"Where are you going?"

"Interrogation's over," Klaus used that word deliberately, to see if it would spark anything in Five. A reminder that by his timeline, Klaus had just escaped from being interrogated by his assassin buddies. It didn't. As expected. (They were never brothers, they just were raised together.) "Just… leave."

Five clearly wasn't happy, but he didn't follow Klaus either, so whatever. He grabbed his vest off the floor of the bathroom and put it back on, feeling more comfortable with a reminder of his squad, of actual support. He would have to look up what happened to them, after this was all taken care of. He wanted to make sure the survivors were alright (he'd never cared before, but he'd heard about homeless veterans - if any of the men he knew were in that kind of position, he'd have to arrange for some kind of anonymous donation), and for those who had died… If any of them had lingered, he'd ensure they were able to move on. They deserved that much from him.

He left the rest of his mess behind and made his way to the entrance of the Academy, passing Pogo working on Mom on the way (wow, hadn't they decided to wait it out? He wondered who had been the one to cut into her, and why Pogo was only now fixing her.). Pogo looked up as he passed, but turned away again without saying anything.

The chandelier that had been hanging from the entry hall was on the floor, the metal twisted in places. How the fuck had that happened?

Conveniently, just as he had that thought, Diego strolled into the room.

"What happened here?" he asked, out loud this time.

"You look like shit," was the response he received.

"Oh, why thank you," he turned to look at Diego, and was startled to see someone hovering over his shoulder. She looked surprised to see him looking at her, and also vaguely familiar.

"You have to stop him," she said, "don't let him leave!"

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked. It suddenly hit him where he knew her from - she was the cop who'd showed up at the hotel room. The dripping wound in her chest showed how well that worked out for her.

"Nope," was the instant response, although he stopped walking.

"He's going after them… Please, you have to stop him. They'll kill him, too," his brother's tagalong said desperately.

"What?" he responded to both of them.

"I'm not giving you a ride," was the answer from Diego.

"He wants revenge," came from the woman. Well, he could definitely understand that. Unfortunately, Hazel and Cha-Cha still have a purpose to fulfill before they could die, and also Klaus got first dibs.

"Oh, come on man, you know I can't drive," Klaus pretended like a ride was his goal the entire time, and the cop smiled at him. She was strange - still a new spirit, yes, but she was following Diego and begging him to stop instead of latching on to her killers. Even newer spirits tended to crow for revenge above all else. Interesting.

Ignoring Diego's protests like usual, he followed him out to his car, reclining in the passenger seat. He really didn't want to be babysitting his brother right now. He wanted to be getting his revenge. He definitely couldn't do that in front of Diego though. At least not yet.

He sat in silence, conscious of Diego staring at him multiple times during the trip.

"You okay?" the second sibling today questioned. It was more annoying this time than with Five, because he didn't know Diego's motivation.

"Wow, this is a first. My brother Klaus is silent. Last time you were this quiet, we were twelve. Ran down the stairs wearing Grace's heels, tripped over and broke your jaw."

Is that how Diego remembered it? Also, Grace? Since when had Diego ever called her anything but Mom? Were they allowed to call the robot by its name, now? What had happened while he was gone?

"How long was it wired shut?" Diego had continued talking.

"Eight weeks," Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Eight glorious weeks of bliss," Diego reminisced.

Yeah, that's what Klaus thought. It was Frank who told him one of his siblings had pushed him down the stairs, after he woke up in the infirmary. Klaus had never had any reason to doubt Frank before, so he'd instantly believed him. Even if it wasn't true, at this point it didn't really matter anymore. That wasn't the only instance of their childhood where his siblings had acted like complete assholes, and ultimately he was glad Frank had helped prevent him from getting too attached.

Speaking of - Klaus felt Frank's presence, far closer than he expected.

"Hey, just drop me off here," Klaus interrupted whatever his brother might have thought to say next, more interested in seeing what Frank was up to than listening to that drivel. He could catch up to him once he was finished here… He could just summon the lady cop to tell him where Diego was.

They came to a stop in front of a VFW, and Klaus eyed the building. What the hell was Frank doing, hanging around a VFW? And Ben too, he realized, now that he was closer.

He made his way into the building, instantly spotting the two against one of the wall memorials. Frank looked vindictive, Ben seemed distraught. They weren't the only ghosts in the building, each vet had their own cadre, but they were the only two he cared about.

He strode through the building and reached the two of them before they even noticed him.

"You see? He's gone forever," Frank was saying, one hand clenched tightly around Ben's wrist.

"Who is?" he asked quietly but confidently - no need to look crazier than he otherwise should.

Both of them whirled to look at him with wildly different expressions.

"You… survived," was the first thing Frank said to him.

"You're alive!" Ben sounded happier to see him than he ever had before.

He ignored both of them, his gaze focused on the display behind them. Sky Soldiers, the board proclaimed, their insignia hanging there in a place of honor. And - oh. It was his squad. They were posing together proudly, and Klaus remembered when this was. It was right after they'd gotten their tattoos. He and Dave were there, in the back. They'd been holding hands when the picture was taken.

"You thought Vietnam would kill me? Did you forget that I literally can't die?" he asked without taking his eyes off Dave's face. "You taught me too well for something as silly as a war to end me. Is this where you came, every time you left? Making sure things still happened the way you wanted them to?" Of all of the pictures of all of the squads to wind up on a memorial board for the 173rd… Did one of his squadmates leave it here? Did one of them live in the city?

"And yet you're still weak," Frank smirked.

"What are you two talking about?" Ben asked. They both ignored him.

"Because I didn't immediately get rid of you? I needed you, I'll admit. Without you, I wouldn't have grown into my powers. But now I've gotten everything I could out of you. Want to see a new trick I learned while I was away?"

Klaus had enough practice from all the Commission goons that reaching for this aspect of his power was easy now. Easier than shoving someone through the barrier by far. And moving on to the afterlife was far too pleasant an ending for Frank, even if he did wind up in Hell. Instead, he gripped the slimy remains of the man's soul, and began slowly tearing it apart at the seams. Frank looked confused at first, and then almost immediately began screaming. Klaus took his time, stretching and pulling, little rips forming at first, growing into deeper tears.

Ben watched on in horror. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't this what you wanted, Ben? You were always trying to get me away from Frank, to push him away. Well, watch this!" With a final twist of his wrist, Frank's form dissolved into little scraps, which fell apart before their eyes.

"What did you do?" Ben sounded aghast.

Klaus was distracted from responding by a hand landing on his shoulder. Oh look, Diego followed him. Looks like he wouldn't have to do any catching up after all.

"Let's have this conversation outside. Don't want to cause a scene, do you?" he glanced at both his brothers, before pushing past the guy he was sure was about to confront him for being there. Klaus would love a fight right now, but not with people he respected far more than his siblings.

He ignored every word thrown his way until they were outside the bar again.

"What was that all about?" Diego demanded once he saw he had Klaus' attention again.

"Just some unfinished business," Klaus shrugged, moving towards the car.

"Unfinished business… What unfinished business do you have in a veteran bar?" his brother scoffed.

"What kind do you think?" Klaus rolled his eyes. "You do remember what my power is, don't you?" (His brother had entirely ignored the insignia on his collar, and the dog tags around his neck. What a surprise. His brothers continue to live down to his expectations.)

Diego laughed at him. "Please. We all know you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years."

Klaus looked between Ben and the cop, then back at Diego. "Right. Whatever. Come on, let's go."

He got into the car, waiting for Diego to do the same. "You've got to stop putting that shit in your body," he said as he started the car.

Klaus just laughed, and then went back to ignoring Diego.

"Were you really in Vietnam?" Ben asked from the backseat. He and the cop had remained silent through Diego's whole fit.

Klaus glanced back at them, then nodded briefly before going back to ignoring them.

Ripping Frank apart for what he'd done had felt good initially, but he wished the high of it had lasted longer. It wasn't even that he was feeling sad about it - he'd felt genuine love now, and knew that nothing Frank had provided came close - but it wasn't the victorious sensation he'd expected. Maybe he'd get more out of Hazel and Cha-Cha's deaths.

(He knew deep down he wouldn't feel whole again until he saw Dave. It made him consider using the briefcase to yank him out of the timeline, but he wasn't sure how realistic that would be. If he grabbed him pre-Vietnam, then he wouldn't know Klaus yet, and he wouldn't love him. During the war would present a completely different set of difficulties, like managing to stay out of sight from his own past self, and what his past self would do if he noticed Dave was missing… He'd have to have a long conversation with Five about how he could successfully change things… A living Dave would be a million times better than anything Klaus could do with his powers.)

"What's going on with you, huh?" Diego broke the silence.

Klaus realized they were parked, and had been for quite some time now, right by Griddy's Doughnuts.

"I've never seen you like this before," Ben added. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Come on, tell me," Diego spoke over Ben.

He was fed up with both of them. If he didn't need to make sure Diego didn't ruin things, he'd have already left.

"Because I lost someone, okay! The only person who I've ever loved more than myself."

Ben's jaw dropped, even as Diego stared at him.

"Well, you're luckier than most. When you lose someone, at least you can see them whenever you want." The cop looked extremely sad at that statement.

It's not all it's cracked up to be, Klaus didn't respond. But now he also knew what Diego's care was about. He thought if Klaus "got clean" he could help him see his girlfriend again.

"That's our man," Diego pointed, and Klaus looked out to see Hazel getting into a blue car.

"You're going after Hazel and Cha-Cha?" he asked, as though he didn't already know the answer.

"How could you possibly know that?"

Klaus laughed. "They tortured me for hours. I barely got out."

What Diego should have taken from that was that he should wait and come up with something better than just following the assassin. Instead, he said "we gotta get this guy," and started tailing him.

Great. Maybe he'd get lucky and Five will have already done whatever he needed to do to see the Handler again.

What followed was a disaster he absolutely predicted. Diego got himself shot, Klaus got to drive (an ice cream truck of all things!), Luther and Five had a botched showdown with Hazel and Cha-Cha, Five vanished (hopefully to go wage his attack on the Commission), and they left Hazel and Cha-Cha still alive in order to run away back to the house. Fucking ridiculous (almost as ridiculous as Diego's if-I-die-go-get-help speech, but he wasn't sure anything could top that. Both Ben and the cop had looked outraged).

Now, he was back in his bedroom, reclined on his bed, and facing a Ben who was still dramatically demanding answers.

After ignoring him for a while, Klaus finally rolled his eyes and sat up. Fine. He starts with being kidnapped (and learns Frank had managed to restrain Ben to prevent him from helping… the thought makes him laugh. Number Six held down by a simple civilian. Hilarious), and his subsequent trip to the Vietnam War where he soldiered with people who showed up the Academy on every level. He didn't get choked up when talking about Dave, but he also didn't go too into depth. Ben didn't deserve the details. He might have remained by his side all these years, but it wasn't out of brotherly love. He hadn't thought that before, and spending so many months with his brothers in the 173rd had just confirmed it for him. He does talk about getting revenge for Dave's death and enjoys the way it makes Ben pale drastically.

"Oh just wait, Benny. I'm not finished yet. I still have to stop the apocalypse before my revenge is through."

"Is this really what he would want?" Ben had the audacity to ask.

"Dave knew who I was, Ben. He knows me far better than you, and he accepted every single part of me. Don't you dare try to tell me what he would want." He narrowed his eyes at his constant stalker. "You almost sound as though you don't want me to help our family stop the end of everything. Is that what you're saying? You want it all to burn?"

"No! I just - there must be a better way! Killing people isn't the answer!" Ben threw his hands up in the air.

"Sometimes it's the only answer, but people are too weak for it. Luckily we both know I'm not. Now, we both know Luther is going to call a family meeting tomorrow, and if you want to take part in it, you're going to have to follow some ground rules."

"You're going to manifest me for it?" his brother looked shocked.

"I'm going to need to make a point about my powers. You're just convenient. If you don't agree to my terms, I can choose someone else," Klaus shrugged.

"What do you want from me?" Ben sounded resigned.

Klaus smirked. Tomorrow would be fun. The whole family, back together again. And this time, Klaus wouldn't be hiding anything. Well, okay, he wouldn't tell them the whole truth. But he'd tell them enough. He couldn't wait to see their reactions.

A/N:

This chapter is mostly filler (sorry), but had to happen before I could get to the whole major family drama meeting.
Most the dialogue was taken directly from the show.
See you in a few days for the continuation!