: Meet me at midnight in the mausoleum, Part 2

Five

When Five reappeared, icy night air stung his face, his breath rising in white clouds right in front of him. He pulled up the collar of his coat up and looked around. This was definitely not the cemetery, he had landed somewhere between dense trees. Their gnarled leafless branches stabbed like needles into the black night sky. It was deadly quiet around him, only occasionally the branches creaked menacingly when the cold night wind shook them.

Five sighed, he could only hope that the cemetery was not too far away from where he had arrived. He had no time to lose, his father and Klaus could get there any minute while he was walking around in a forest somewhere. He looked around in all directions, but everywhere he looked he saw the same thing: Black tree trunks lost themselves in the darkness in the distance. The light of the moon barely reached down to the forest floor, although he could see it shining brightly in the sky through the tangle of branches.

He bit his lip until he tasted blood. He was in a huge pickle. Should he try teleporting again? That would surely be the easiest and quickest way out of this forest. The metallic taste of blood spread unpleasantly in his mouth, tasted bitter on his tongue. He furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully and ran his fingers through his raven-black hair as he weighed up his options.

No, teleporting was unfortunately not the solution to his problem, no matter how tempting it seemed. There were simply too many risks, too many variables, any one of which could cause something to go very wrong. Teleporting over long distances was also extremely dangerous, especially if one didn't have an exact picture of the destination in mind. The risk of colliding with something was too high. He was lucky enough that his current attempt had him brought between and not in the trees. But those trees were the problem, they all looked the same, damn it! He first had to get his bearings, had to get out of the dense undergrowth and the endless rows of trees.

One direction seemed as good as any and so he simply set off. Frozen branches cracked loudly under his feet as he fought his way through the dense undergrowth.

His gaze slid back and forth between the moon, which he used for orientation, and the ground beneath his feet. As long as he kept walking straight ahead in one direction, he would inevitably come to the end of the forest. He just couldn't afford to stumble or lose his direction.

Five's thoughts drifted back and forth between his fear for Klaus and his fervent desire not to hit his head on the frozen forest floor, and so he fell into a kind of erratic running pace that sometimes drove him faster, sometimes slower and sometimes almost forced him to stop. Each time he needed to stop, he looked in panic at his wristwatch and winced when he saw that the minute hand had moved forward again. His father and Klaus had probably arrived at the cemetery a while ago while he was wandering around here in the dark, disoriented.

What a fucking mess! Five was just about to curse himself when the clumps of trees finally cleared to reveal an open space. His heart pounded with renewed hope. In a moment, in a moment, he would hopefully be able to see exactly where he had landed. He didn't believe in God or higher powers in general, but at that specific moment he was imploring every higher power to do everything they would demand of him if he could only find the damn cemetery and his brother soon. Klaus needed him after all!

He took a bold step out of the forest and almost jumped with joy when he saw the carefully graveled paths, which shimmered unreal and almost magical in the moonlight. So he had teleported into the forest that bordered the city park. Luck was on his side again! Five knew that the cemetery had to be somewhere in the park. Hopefully not at the other end, he had no more time to lose as the minutes were advancing mercilessly.

Five walked on, gravel crunching under his soles as he fell into an unsteady stride. He came to a fork in the road. Which way should he go? To the right or to the left? Panicked, he looked around, took a step in one direction, headed back and took a step into the other one. Which was the right path? He couldn't tell and every wrong decision did cost time, time that Klaus didn't have.

"Logical! Think logically!" he shouted at himself. "You have to make a decision, right now!" While his mind was still desperately trying to analyze which way was the better choice, the decision was taken from him in one fell swoop as distant screams reached his ears through the night.

"Dad! No! I said I don't want to ... ! Please, stop, I ... home! Dad! Noooo! Let ... go! Dad! Dad, NO!"

Klaus! That was the voice of his brother Klaus! And he was screaming! Five ran as fast as his legs would carry him, running in the direction from which Klaus' screams were coming. His lungs burned like fire, but he didn't stop, didn't allow himself to slow down for a single second.

Another junction where he turned right, another bend and then he finally saw it, the cemetery.

He was now heading straight for the low wall that bordered the cemetery, a bold leap and he was on the other side. His gaze slid over the graves. Lights shone on some of them, the candlelight flickering in the darkness and lending the scene a gloomy, ghostly atmosphere, which Five paid no attention to. Unlike the living, the dead could do you no harm. Only living people were cruel and merciless, their father was the best example for this.

Five gritted his teeth. He didn't want to think about what this monster of father might have done to his brother while he was wasting valuable time here because he had failed to teleport. Hot anger flared up inside him, he hated himself at that moment. It was only because of him that Klaus was at the mercy of their father. Because he couldn't control his powers. Because he was a failure.

But now was not the time to feel sorry for himself, now he had to do something. Hopefully it wasn't too late. Five's eyes feverishly scanned the entire cemetery. There was no sign of Klaus or their father. The screams had also stopped and in this case, that was a very bad sign as it meant something must have happened. Was his brother... ? No, that couldn't be! It couldn't be! Klaus was alive, Five was sure of it. He had to live, otherwise Five would shatter into a thousand pieces. He could not imagine a life without Klaus.

"Come on, come on! Where are you, Klaus?" he growled between clenched teeth. His eyes were still scanning the surroundings, looking for a sign, any sign of his brother, as he ran frantically up and down the rows of graves.

Suddenly his gaze caught on something. There, behind the large building to his right, a slender, tall figure emerged. Five quickly ducked behind a gravestone, seeking cover. His heart was racing wildly, because even in the dark he had immediately recognized who was sneaking around in the night - it was Reginald Hargreeves, their father. And he was alone.

Klaus

The horror began the moment Sir Reginald Hargreeves closed the heavy double doors behind Klaus' back with a screech. A deafening silence fell over the crypt, but Klaus' insides rumbled. A droning, buzzing pain, as if from an angry swarm of bees, rose up in the depths of his guts, stinging him from the inside out. Klaus tried to take a deep breath and brace himself for what was about to come in the next few seconds. The hell from which there was no escape.

The spirits of the deceased were already rising from their resting places, gliding directly towards him as if they were magically attracted to him. Klaus' eyes widened in panic, he tried to retreat, to hide somewhere, but the burial chamber of the mausoleum offered no protection, no hiding place. All around him, tomb after tomb lined up up to the narrow skylights in the ceiling. The black holes in the wall yawned, opening their mouths and spitting out more and more eerie figures that slowly crept towards in his direction and finally surrounded him from all sides.

Klaus turned helplessly on his own axis, his fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails left crescent-shaped marks in his palms. What was he supposed to do? Fear choked his throat. There was no gap, no chance of escape. The ghosts were almost touching him now, stretching out their bony hands towards him and making hideous noises that sounded almost like cries for help. Klaus knelt down, then he curled up on the floor and made himself as small as possible.

"What do you want from me? Get lost! Go away! Leave me alone at last! Please, go away!" he kept shouting at the shimmering pearly-white figures, but either the ghosts couldn't understand him or they didn't want to, because their mouths only opened wider, releasing horrible hisses and screams that reached Klaus' spine.

In mortal fear, he put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes firmly to shut out the spirits, but it didn't helped a single bit, the grimaces penetrated his soul, tormented him with their screams and tore him apart from the inside out until there was nothing left of him.

Klaus curled up into a tiny ball on the cold stone floor, whimpering. Tears of fear and despair streamed down his cheeks. He simply couldn't take it any longer, he couldn't take another second. His heart raced away, contracting painfully with every beat. Klaus felt as if an iron fist was crushing him from the inside out and then... the darkness consumed him.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves

Sir Reginald Hargreeves stood in front of the mausoleum armed with a clipboard and a stopwatch. He busily filled in line after line and smiled. "Interesting, most interesting!" he muttered to himself. "Who would have thought that test object Number Four would achieve such results? That's amazing, extremely amazing..."

The ballpoint pen glided swiftly across the page, filling it up to the bottom edge of the sheet with black ink. Highly satisfied, he finally tapped the pen one last time and put the clipboard aside to pull a small dicta phone out of his coat pocket. He cleared his throat a few times, then held it directly in front of his mouth and pressed the start button.

"Start of the recording,

Sir Reginald Hargreeves with test subject Number Four, test series 1, 10/20/1994, 00:20.

Number Four continues to resist and refuses to cooperate in the training of his forces. Nevertheless, I have achieved a breakthrough. This reads as follows: Number Four emitted cries for over 30 minutes before the first resting phase occurred. That's 5 minutes more than in the last test measurement.

The following individual observations were made:

more Number Four is exposed to the test environment, the more verbal resistance the test person shows when interacting with it. Over 95% of the verbal resistance consists of shouting.

This needs to be assessed in more detail in this respect as so far only the time and intensity of the cries and the pauses in between have been measured.

The exact physical state of the test subject at rest remains unclear. It can be assumed that it is either a state of unconsciousness or actual death. More detailed observations will follow shortly.

2. The abilities as a medium of Number Four seem to be directly related to the balance of his emotions. The greater the imbalance, the more receptive the subject seems to be to the other world. As the experimenter, I am considering exposing Number Four to additional emotional pain to further increase his sensitivity. This could contribute to a much faster success in training his powers as a medium. Furthermore, the possible involvement of Pogo or the other numbers could be considered to explore Number Four's emotional vulnerabilities. Number Six seems to be the most suitable candidate for this, as he has a close emotional bond.

Conclusion: Experiment series number 1 enters a new phase after today. Further variables are added to the experiment.

End of recording."

Five

"Go away, just go away, do it!" Five pleaded inwardly as he crouched behind the gravestone. Holding his breath, he cautiously peeked around the corner. Damn it, damn it! Their father was still standing there, jotting things down on some kind of clipboard.

There was no sign of Klaus, but Five could hear muffled screams coming from the building next to him. Five was one hundred percent sure that it was Klaus screaming. He felt as if his heart was being crushed in his chest.

What did their father do to Klaus? And how? And why was he out here and Klaus in there? There were only the remains of the dead, weren't there? He had to see what was going on in there. Immediately. But how could he get past their father? It seemed impossible to simply sneak past him while he was guarding the door like Cerberus guarding the gates of hell.

There was only one option. Risk or no risk, he had to teleport again. At least he was now in the immediate vicinity of his target, even if he had no idea what the room looked like from the inside. That was an additional problem, because teleporting into an enclosed space from the outside required extreme precision and control of his power. Which he didn't have, as he had seen when he tried to teleport to the cemetery. No matter. This was about Klaus! He simply could not fail again. His brother's fate was literally in his hands.

Five dropped to his knees behind the gravestone, closed his eyes and breathed in and out deeply, trying to do so as quietly as he could. If her father discovered him, it would all be over anyway. Then he would be a failure for good and he wouldn't let that happen. It was his job to protect his siblings, they came first, then him.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he prepared to teleport. "With control, like on a marble track, just a little push," he recalled Pogo's words from the teleportation training. "Just a teeny tiny push". Light blue light surrounded his fists, covering his skin with a glow.

"Yes, yes, yes! That's it!" he cheered inwardly. He would make it, he was in control! "Just a little more and I...".

Just at that moment a loud voice cut through the darkness: "Start of the recording, Sir Reginald Hargreeves with test subject Number Four, test series 1...".

Five startled, lost control, the light around his fists exploded and then there was nothing but empty air behind the gravestone.

Klaus

"Dark, why is it actually so dark here?" thought Klaus in amazement. He felt strangely floating, somehow detached from his body. The feeling didn't scare him, nor was it unpleasant, it was just... unfamiliar.

The black wove and wafted around him, enveloping his whole body as if he was held in a gentle, loving embrace. Klaus let himself fall into this embrace, floating in the blackness, letting himself drift in its gentle flow.

An inner calm and serenity came over him. Wherever he was, he was safe here, protected, far away from everything terrible. Nothing could harm him in this peaceful darkness. Klaus closed his eyes, surrendered completely to the feeling of weightlessness and finally sank into its depths.

Five

When Five took shape again, the first thing he noticed was a wet, strangely burning sensation on his left leg. Confused, he looked down at himself and examined his left side closely. Somehow it looked strangely deformed. His left trouser leg was ripped open up to his thigh and a dark and strangely viscous substance was dripping out of the cut, shimmering dully in the dim twilight of the mausoleum. The liquid soaked through his trousers, dripping onto the dusty floor in a steady rhythm and drawing a strange pattern of black dots and lines.

Five furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, his mind unable - or unwilling? - to reconcile the burning sensation and what he was seeing.

For a few long seconds, Five was staring down at his leg, then at the ground, then back at his leg as his brain was processing the flood of information, putting it together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When the last piece of the puzzle was in place, the pain burst through his consciousness like a hot glowing inferno and Five's mouth opened into a shrill scream.

Klaus

"Peaceful, so peaceful," Klaus rejoiced as he glided further down the stream. He spread his arms out and let himself drift on the gentle waves of black. Here and there he flapped his legs, pushing himself forward in the waves as if he were floating in silky water. The black washed over his body, caressing and enveloping him. Klaus' memories faded, became foggy and cloudy, his earlier pain a distant echo that slowly faded away.

Yes, it could stay like this, he thought happily, here in the blackness everything was pleasant and peaceful and...ahhhhh! He flinched violently. A high, shrill screech came from somewhere in the darkness and drilled straight into his eardrums.

The screeching swelled, became louder and suddenly he felt as if he was drowning, the waves of blackness, which had just been gentle and friendly, were now crashing over him with a roar, pulling him violently down into an invisible drain where the plug had been pulled.

Klaus whirled around helplessly in the maelstrom, he wanted to gasp for air, to breathe, but he couldn't. Why hadn't he noticed earlier that there was no air in this black? He needed air! Now! His mouth opened and closed in vain, a tremendous pressure squeezed his chest, then a feeling as if he was being forced through the eye of a needle and suddenly there was a dusty, metallic taste on his tongue. Klaus coughed and panted, gasping for the strange-tasting air.

The iron ring around his chest widened and eventually he could breathe again. He greedily sucked in more air, pumping his lungs full of oxygen and the dusty metallic taste. The peaceful darkness had disappeared, it was replaced by the pale moonlight that fell through the milky skylights of the mausoleum. Klaus squinted into the unfamiliar brightness.

Slowly, his memories returned. He was still trapped here in the mausoleum. But then, he had been gone, hadn't he? Where had he gone? Where was it all black and peaceful? And why was he back? He didn't want to return to this horror! It was all so strange, nothing fitted together. Klaus folded his hands over his head, his head hurt so much. Thinking hurt, even the mere existing hurt. But he needed answers.

Distorted images and sounds bubbled in the depths of his consciousness. Klaus couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality, everything was far too blurred for that. Ahh! His head hurt so much! Actually, his whole body ached, it felt as if his insides had been stuffed into a sleeping bag that was too tight. Every single fiber, every muscle and bone pulled and tugged and felt out of place. His skin felt too was also a tremendous pressure on his chest. Did it feel like dying? Was he perhaps already... dead? Panicked, he put his hand on his chest. Badum. Badum. Badum. No, thank the gods! A dead had no heartbeat. He could feel his heart beating steadily and reliably under his hand. Klaus exhaled with relief.

However, the relief did not last long, as he was still locked in the crypt. In the exact crypt where the ghosts lived. He would have to see them again, hear their hideous screams. He felt blind panic creeping up inside him, paralyzing him from the inside out. If he just closed his eyes and kept as quiet as a mouse, maybe the ghosts wouldn't even notice him? It was the last straw that Klaus was clutching at, but it was all he had.

He closed his eyes and held his breath. "One...two...three." No ghosts so far. "Four... five...six," he counted inwardly. "Seven...eight...niiiiiiiine." Hope flared up inside Klaus. "Ten." He blinked carefully through half-opened eyelids.

YEAH! No ghosts, they seemed to have spared him this time. Klaus opened his eyes fully. No ghosts far and wide. Double yeah! From now on, his lucky streak began. One in which ghosts never appeared again. All he had to do now was wait until it dawn, then his dad would get him out of here. And if he told him that he didn't see any more ghosts, he might never have to come back here again. Luck was on his side from now on, he could just feel it!

Unfortunately, luck seemed to know nothing of the partnership with Klaus, because just a few breaths later the ghosts rose from their graves again and dashed Klaus' hopes of a ghost-free life once and for all.

"No, no, NO, WHY?!" Klaus shrieked shrilly as the ghosts flew straight at him, the same was as they had done before, emitting their terrible moaning screams. He couldn't bear it again. He couldn't go through it again even for a single second. Klaus screamed his head off, fear flooded his body and almost made him faint, but that didn't stop the ghosts at all. They floated closer and closer, Klaus' screams became ever shriller. In sheer desperation, Klaus threw himself flat on the cold stone floor and covered his head with his hands - in a moment, in a moment, the ghosts would get him and eat him alive. Klaus was shaking all over.

But...nothing of the sort happened. The spirits simply floated over him. They didn't pay any further attention to him. Klaus was so bewildered that nothing has happened to him that he dare to raise his head and looked after the ghosts. The ghosts were now gathering in a corner, hovering over what looked like a dirty black pile.

Klaus raised his head even higher to get a better look. He couldn't see it clearly in the twilight: what attracted the ghosts if not him? What was that black heap in the corner? Klaus was absolutely certain that whatever it was, it hadn't been there before. Maybe it was an animal that had somehow gotten in? Should he go closer? What if it was dangerous? What if it was an animal that bit or scratched him?

His mind was torn between not wanting to approach the ghosts and the unknown thing in the corner on the one hand, but on the other hand he had to find out what was keeping the ghosts away from him. Perhaps it was something useful, some kind of weapon or something else that he could use to defeat them for good? Wild hope was flowing through him, maybe this was his chance to get rid of the ghosts once and for all.

Carefully, on all fours, he crawled closer to the black bundle. He was still far enough away so that the ghosts couldn't touch him, but he could see the outline of the pile better now. That was clearly not an animal lying in the corner, it looked more like a...

The bundle groaned and twitched. A human being! It was a human being! Here with him in the tomb! Klaus abandoned all caution and crawled as fast as he could towards the pile of clothes. The ghosts moved aside, making room for him, but Klaus didn't even notice their strange behavior, his attention was focused solely on the human who was now sharing the same fate.

"Hey! Hey you! Hello!" he called out excitedly as he pushed himself closer. "What are you doing here? Who are you? What's your name? I'm Klaus. Klaus Hargreeves! My dad locked me up here. Were you locked up here too? Hello? Hello, you there, are you awake?"

The pile of clothes didn't answer, but only groaned when Klaus poked him in the side. "Hey, you, what's wrong with you? Now is not the time to sleep! Wake up!"

Klaus bent closer over the ashen face of the bundle and when he realized who was lying on the floor in front of him, his eyes widened in horror.

"FIVE? What the hell are YOU doing here? Did Dad lock you up in here too?" No answer. Five's eyes remained closed and the agonized whimpering from earlier had stopped too. His brother lay motionless on the floor. Klaus shook his shoulders "Five! Five! Wake up!" What has happened? Brother, come on! WAKE UP NOW!"

Klaus shook Five's shoulders even harder, but all that happened was that his brother let out a long, drawn-out cry of pain, his head rolling back and forth on the dusty floor.

Despair threatened to overwhelm Klaus, eating its way through his guts. Why didn't his brother wake up? What was wrong with him?

Tears obscured Klaus' vision. "Five! Please, PLEASE, wake up!" he pleaded, as he continued to shake his brother's shoulders in vain. Hot tears poured from Klaus' eyes and left a trail of smeared dirt down his cheeks. "FIVE! I need you! I don't want to be alone anymore!" he screamed at him. But Five didn't respond to Klaus' desperate cries either.

Klaus was now crying freely, the howling of the spirits also swelled again, mingling with his own and echoing through the tomb. It was as if they were mocking him.

"What should I do? Tell me what to do, Five!" Klaus screamed helplessly. "Five, please help me! I can't do this alone!" Klaus bent even further over his unconscious brother, supporting both of his hands on the ground. Five's pale face looked so peaceful, nearly as if he was asleep. But why didn't he wake up? Surely he wasn't...?

Trembling, Klaus lifted his right hand and stroked Five's sticky hair from his forehead, leaving a dark, greasy mark on his face. Startled, Klaus pulled his hand back and held it very close to his own face. What was that? His palm was covered in a dark, sticky liquid. Klaus smelled it, stuck his tongue out and carefully licked a fingertip. It tasted metallic.

Then the realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. "Five! Shit, you're hurt!" Klaus' eyes now feverishly searched Five's entire body, finally finding the cut in his trouser leg, from which dark drops were still oozing.

Klaus felt sick. Shit, shit, shit! That looked bad, really bad. He had to do something, right now! He hastily took off his sweater, wrapped it around Five's leg and knotted the sleeves tightly over the wound.

Five whimpered. A sign of life from his brother! He wasn't dead and for the moment that was all that mattered. Klaus tried to calm him down. "Hold on Five! Stay with me! I'll go as fast and as well as I can, okay? But you have to stay with me, do you hear me?"

Klaus carefully lifted Five's injured leg and checked that the bandage was properly in place. Five cried out under the strain. "Shhh, shhhh, it's okay, Five, it's going to be okay!" Klaus murmured imploringly. "You just have to hold out a little longer, yeah?"

A croaking sound was heard, then barely intelligible: "I'm trying."

Klaus' heart skipped a beat. "Five! You're awake!" He bent his head very close to Five's face. "Tell me, what happened? What are you doing here?" the questions poured out of Klaus. "No, wait, don't say anything, you're not supposed to talk when you're badly hurt, are you? I wasn't paying attention when Pogo..."

A hoarse laugh that turned into a cough. "You never pay attention, Klaus." Five contorted his face into a half-smirk, then gasped heavily, "I'm here to save you, what else?" He coughed again, wincing in pain.

"Save me?" Klaus repeated, stroking his head reassuringly. "Really? It looks more like I have to save you. If only I had a needle and thread. I'm pretty good at stitching, you know," he said, looking at the makeshift bandage.

Five smiled faintly. "You've helped me so many times, Klaus. Do you think I don't know who held me at night while the nightmares tormented me? Who else but you can even stand me? I know I'm difficult sometimes, I..." Five's voice sounded rough, distorted by pain, tears glistening in the corners of his eyes. Stammering, he continued: "and I, I've failed again, I'm just a..."

"Shhh now! Don't talk so much, you need to rest!" Klaus interrupted him in an unusually stern voice. He gently placed Five's head on his lap. "And you're not a failure, you may be an unbearable pain in the ass sometimes, but we all love you. I love you, you're my brother, Five. I'll always be there for you!"A big grin appeared on his face. "and apparently I have to be, with the risk of accidents you have," Klaus tried to cheer up the situation with a joke.

Five stretched out his arms towards his brother and Klaus hugged him tightly. "Brothers forever, yeah?" Five murmured in Klaus's ear, his voice choked with tears. Klaus nodded. "Brothers forever!"