Fireproof

“I thought we had a deal.” An unimpressed voice cut through Klaus’ thoughts along with an apathetic sigh.

Klaus turned his head to see Satan, sitting at his large desk surrounded by a volcanic landscape, he was writing quickly, his head leaned against the palm of his hand. He was still beautiful in an off putting way and his hair was still perfect. He walked up to the desk, another flash of anger in his veins as Satan didn’t look up from his work.

“You slippery bitch.”

Satan glanced up, “Thank you?”

He finished writing out the rest of a sentence then set the red feather pen down and leaned back in the chair, “I gave you what you wanted and you were to never return and yet--”

“You didn’t give me what I wanted, you gave me a fucking baby!” Klaus snapped.

“And yet here you are - while our spark is down there with your father. The same man who raised you; The beautifully functioning adult.” he continued with strong sarcasm before adding “Do you want me to take her back?”

Klaus grabbed the sides of his hair and pulled, “Don’t you dare…”

“Then I don’t see what the problem is?” His voice was good natured and teasing, an amused smirk over his lips.

It was so very rare that Klaus resorted to violence but he grabbed a comically large tome from the desk and hurled it at the dark lord. It thumped harmlessly against his chest and inciniterated in a ball of flames, “The problem is she’s the most precious thing in the world and you left her with me. You left her with me - we were fucking homeless!”

“I’ve kept tabs.”

Klaus grabbed up several papers from the desk and balled them up only to hurl them at the demon prince - they too, disappeared into ash.

“You left us homeless - You gave me this baby and just left her out in the cold with a fucked up lunatic on the city streets! You helped bring her into this world and then you did nothing! You just left us with nothing and we’ve had to claw and rip our way to survive.”

“She seems fine.”

He pointed to the skyline of the seemingly never ending red sky that surrounded them, “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through?”

Satan sighed, “I have no control over what occurs to mortals.”

Klaus pointed a finger in his face, “I hate you - I hate you and your dumb, stupid, dumb face - you bitch!” He doubled over, breathing heavily.

Satan looked down at him with a soft expression, “Been waiting 7 years to say that?”

The Seance glanced up, “Yeah.” He said heavily then he added, voice cracking with emotion, “My baby - he’s got her.. I-I failed, the only thing that ever mattered and I couldn’t even protect her…” He muttered, turning around and stumbling away. “And the last thing I did I yelled at her…”

Satan frowned “Do you really think I would have left my spark with someone who was not strong enough to protect her? I gave her all the tools she would need to survive and I had no doubt that she would blend in and thrive on the earthly plane.”

Klaus’ head snapped towards the prince, “Okay - first of all, she’s got horns, you shitheel.”

“Eh, creation’s not an exact science.”

Klaus whined, “What did you do to me?”

“I gave you love - a pure shot of the warmth that you were so desperate for - a zenith plateau that was unconditional and never ending.”

“No, Shakespeare, I meant the other thing --”

“No, no, no, no - STOP IT! No, please, please stop…” Klaus was trapped, his soul split and he was looking through his own eyes without any control. An overwhelming darkness was consuming him as he watched the driver of the truck who had nearly crushed them to death struggling against him.

It was like he had a hand around the man’s heart and something awful wanted to crush it in his fingers, wanted to rip the man’s soul out of his body. At first it was instinct; he had heard his daughter scream - then there was a lingering darkness, anger that was pushing to end the man’s life.

Klaus could see the anger, it looked like him with black, dead eyes and a hateful sneer.

“Don’t hurt him… Please…”

The anger squeezed around the truck driver’s heart a little more and the man seized.

“Fuck! Stop!” Klaus pushed back and the darkness burned him.

It seemed to stay like that for so long, until he felt like his mind would just collapse from the strain until finally the darkness conceded and he retreated from the man’s body, snapping back into his physical form like a bone being shoved back into its socket. He no longer remembered where he was or who was with him - all he knew was that he was trapped and the darkness was slaking close behind.

“That thing that violates my brain and makes me kill people.”

Satan tilted his head, a patronizing expression of something akin to pity came over his mythical features, “What makes you think that I did that?”

Klaus snorted, “That-that thing isn’t me, okay? Even when I lost control when I was younger - it wasn’t like that, wasn’t that evil. I want it gone, as soon as possible, please and thank you.”

“Just because you’re afraid of the darkness inside of you doesn’t mean that it wasn’t always there.” Satan sighed, clasping his hands behind his back and he began to walk away.

“JUst becAUse You’Re aFRaId oF tHe darKnESs iNsiDe of you DoeSn’T mEAN thaT IT wAsn’T ALwayS tHEre.” Klaus repeated in a mocking british accent, “You sound like my father - Hey! Where are you going? I’m not done yelling at you yet--”

“Listen -” Satan twisted on his heel and held up a hand, stopping the Seance in his tracks, “You don’t hate the spark, do you?”

“You mean Kenzie? Kenzie Grace? The little auto cumbusting person you created? The actual child my sociopathic father just kidnapped? The one I love more than anything in the world? No - no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“She’s darkness, Klaus.” He stepped forward and the other man stepped back, forgetting just how intimidating the prince of darkness truly was. “She’s fire and death and shadow - A true culmination of evil and power.”

Klaus nodded somewhat blankly “Fascinating. I had no idea evil and power were so obsessed with spongebob and listening to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” ’ 20,000 times a day. I’ll keep that in mind--”

“What I’m trying to say is…” The towering demon thought carefully about his next words, “Evil is what you make it. The spark can’t help who or what she is yet you love her anyway. And she loves you. Still you cower in fear at the darkness within you rather than embrace it - control it - find peace in accepting your soul for exactly what. It. Is.”

Satan leaned away back to his full height and began to walk again, “Don’t blame your weakness on me, my friend.”

“I think ‘friend’ is a bit of a stretch - maybe something more like alimony dodger…” He had to speed up to catch up with the prince, “I think that ‘Friend’ would be more apropos if you paid for a single goddamn thing - seriously, any child support would have been great. I--”

He fumbled against Satan’s back as the demon stopped without warning.

“Take a look.” Satan was staring over the edge of what looked like a pooling lake of lava, he gestured over the edge for Klaus to come closer.

Klaus stepped up to the pool of lava, feeling the heat radiating off the surface. It was either completely unmoving or swirling slowly, he couldn’t quite tell but he stared into the darkness.

He saw himself, lying on the floor of their apartment with his body surrounded by broken glass and cold chilli. He watched as Dave came inside - and his heart ached when he saw his fiance run to him and grab his lifeless body, cradling it to his chest. He couldn’t hear but he saw Dave’s mouth moving as he mumbled something over his body.

Dave’s finger’s shakily searched for a pulse that would not be found, after a minute` he left his throat and his head shot up, he saw him screaming for Kenzie and run to her bedroom, then he searched the house. When he realized that she was gone he stumbled back to Klaus’ body and knelt down next to it. His head tilted slightly and he reached over Klaus’ corpse and opened his fisted hand to pull out a crumpled piece of paper.

Dave inspected the paper - no doubt a piece of the check that he had ripped up, with the unmistakable Umbrella Co. emblem on the front.

“Dave - don’t.” Klaus’ face fell as he watched the scene in front of him play out.

Dave placed Klaus’ cold dead hands over his stomach respectfully then kissed his forehead. Klaus wanted to feel that so badly but his soul was far away and his body was purple and cold. His fiance promptly got up, fists clenched at his side and left the apartment.

“For the love of--” Klaus groaned, “David Joseph Katz you better not be doing what I think you’re doing…” He mumbled to himself.

He looked over at Satan and nodded his head curtly, “Well, that’s my cue - send me back.”

To his surprise the lord of darkness only gave him a patronizing hum, turning around and seating himself back at his large, dramatic desk. He picked up a red feather ink quill and began writing again, leaving Klaus standing near the edge of the lava river with his mouth hanging open.

“Chop - Chop! Luci - time to send me back to get my baby and my future husband from my diabolical father.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow and sighed, “Look, I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here- you’re obnoxious and were made to be a broken rule in an otherwise chaotic universe--”

“Thank you?--”

“But your body isn’t going to be able to take a soul - it’s… What’s the word? Fucked.”

“Yeah. I know that. That’s why I’m here - so… Let me back up there so I can handle--” He waved his hand around, “All that.”

He waited but his only response was that of silence and a sizzling ink quill against metaphysical parchment.

Klaus walked up and snapped his fingers in front of the devil’s nose, “Hey! Pretty boy- That’s your baby down there needing saving too, you know, so… Time's ticking.”

“Humph.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s got all the tools she needs to survive.”

“Yeah, so did I. That’s kind of how child abuse works. You don’t want her going through what I went through, Luci - Okay?”

Satan continued to scribble against the paper, “I already told you - You’re body is broken. Believe me - I don’t want you here either. Especially with the spark having been literally stolen from you. But, it’s no matter - If she calls I’ll go and get her before he has a chance to hurt her. You’re out of this fight, Number 4.”

Klaus reached out and snatched up the paper, he split it in half and it dissipated into dust, “I promised her I wouldn’t leave her.” He snarled.

Satan threw his hands up, “You know what? Fine.”

Klaus clapped triumphantly only to blink and be shoved back into his own body- he lurched forward gasping for air that just wasn’t there. In an instant he was met with the unceasing brutal pain coursing through his veins, beginning at the hole still oozing from his stomach and reaching a crescendo around his eyes until it felt like his brain was about to explode out of his skull.

He tried to scream but all that came out was a hoarse croak and he collapsed back, opening his mouth, desperately fighting for oxygen and relief as the sensation that his bones were cracking all at once consumed him.

Klaus concentrated as hard as he could, the pain was unbearable. He felt exhausted in a way that he couldn’t even describe, pushing his abilities and his powers further than he ever could have imagined. He crawled forward, the movement sending tremors through his muscles and he could feel his heart struggling to maintain his body.

He closed his eyes and screamed as loudly as he could, although all that came out was a strangled gurgling sob.

He wasn’t able to suffocate before his heart gave out and he was once again falling. He landed back against the sizzling surface. Only this time Satan was waiting for him, a look of pity over his beautiful demonic features.

“I’m sorry, Klaus.”

Klaus looked up, “Send me back.”

********************************************************************************************

“Number 8, I expect better behavior from you starting immediately - your performance on the way to your room has done nothing but make it perfectly clear that you are adhering to your old degenerate lifestyle. Such actions will be punished, do you understand?”

Reginald held Kenzie by the arm next to a small padded cell that they had got down a secret elevator to get to, he held the door open with his cane and stared at her with an upturned nose. The 7 year old attempted to wrestle out of his grip in response to which he had no reaction. He pushed her into the room and she tumbled down onto the padded floor, “I hate you!” She screamed and attempted to bolt out of the cell.

Reginald shut the door and with a turn of a heavy bank vault like lock she was trapped. She hit the door and then continued banging against the clear door with her fists as hard as she could, yelling nonsense curse words that she learned from her father.

“Baby - Kenzie. Kenzie, stop!” Ben was attempting to grab her wrist out of habit but was effectively useless in this situation.

“Kenzie Grace, I need you to listen to me!”

She stopped her clawing at the door and turned around, face scrunched up and red with tears. She looked over the bed, toilet, and chair that crowded the small prison cell then finally looked up at her uncle, “I want to go home…” She sniffled and tried to grab her uncle to hug him but walked straight through which started another round of tears.

She slid down next to the bed and Ben settled next to her, “Someone is going to come get you, you understand me? We are going to go home soon, I promise.”

He was searching her face trying to figure out exactly what was going through her head, “I know that I’m not much help right now but I’m still your uncle. You need to get some rest, okay? I’m not going anywhere and I’ll look out for you.” He patted the small gray bed with one pillow.

She was staring into the distance. Not speaking.

“Baby? Hey, tell me what’s on your mind - don’t- you’re not alone here.”

“Did momma die ‘cause of me?” She asked softly.

“No. Reginald Hargreeves is a very bad man and that has nothing to do with you. This is not your fault.”

Their heads shot up at the sounds of voices, at first Ben’s heart lept with excitement thinking that someone already came for them but it soon faded away as the sight of a dozen or so mangled ghosts began to meander towards the cell. He tilted his head in confusion as they started moving faster towards them, looking directly at them trapped in the cell.

“Kenzie!” Various voices began to moan and wail - like they used to do to Klaus.

“What the hell…” Ben mumbled under his breath.

Kenzie curled up and covered her ears as the ghost began to scream louder, “Go away!”

She wasn’t a stranger to rogue spirits but they never got close to her and if caught off guard would actively run away in terror from the child. Ben wanted to scream, he wanted to cry - why had these spirits decided to torment her like they did her father now, all of the sudden.

“Get away from her!” Ben snapped as one spirit made it through the door, followed by a shambling second, “She’s just a kid!” He tried wrestling against the spirits but was almost immediately overpowered by the numbers.

Kenzie remained curled on the floor trying to block out their wails - Ben had almost lost all hope when unprompted she uncurled herself and stood up on shaky legs, fists balled up at her sides she screamed- a sound which turned into something that sounded more like a roar.

She closed her eyes and the air around her exploded into hellfire sending Ben tumbling to the ground with a force that he didn’t understand. The spirits yelped and screeched in either terror or agony. They stumbled and crawled away in desperation, clawing through the walls and cowering in the corners.

Ben shielded his eyes from the painful flame and stood back up, “Kenzie- Kenzie, they’re gone.”

The bed and chair erupted into flames, catching the padded walls on fire.

“Kenzie?”

She didn’t respond.

************************************************************************************************************

Klaus lurched forward - was this the seventh time he had been crammed back into his actively rotting body? It could have been the tenth or the millionth, he couldn’t tell anymore. His jaw clenched painfully against the blood and foam bubbling up in his mouth.

He knew the routine at this point - initial burning pain, then his bones feel like they are shattering in his body, the blood constricts his airways and then his heart begins to fail. Then again, with a snap of Satan’s fingers he’s shoved back into the carousel of horrors.

He had moved about 5 feet, simply crawling, dying, then crawling some more towards the door - unable to think of anything else he continued to reach out a hand and drag himself a little further towards the door.

He whined, he couldn’t do anymore.

Before his heart could give out again he broke down - collapsing uselessly to the floor and sobbing pitifully. His heart stuttered and he closed his eyes - something latched onto him.

Klaus felt something crack inside of his soul and suddenly he was trapped - a heavy sense of darkness overtook his body and mind - the pain faded away blissfully. He felt himself stand but he never made a move to do so. He looked into the mirror to see something dark - something just like him with sunken black eyes - it smiled and raised a compromising hand.

In that moment he felt like he was both inside and floating outside of his body - he stepped forward. The darkness inside of him was intent and only concerned with one thing.

He made his way to the academy although he couldn’t remember the journey as whatever took him over moved consistently forward. People moved out of his way but they didn’t scream and they didn’t seem to notice even though Klaus was yelling at them, yelling for help as he realized that his control was waning quickly.

****************************************************************************************************

Dave ducked a particularly wicked blow and threw another punch which was promptly blocked by the old man. He knew it was going to be ugly but he hadn’t expected just how fast Sir. Hargreeves would move to dispatch his future son-in-law. He also didn’t expect for this old man to be this strong or this agile - there was no reason he should have been getting the upper hand on Dave.

There was no going to the police - they wouldn’t be able to do anything and most of them would be able to pay off. Laws don’t apply to rich men and Dave knew it would easily be turned back onto him for his fiance’s death.

The old man knocked him over and threw a kidney busting hit to his stomach, Dave’s heart dropped as he saw Reginald pull out a knife - he couldn’t fail, Kenzie was somewhere in this house. He promised Klaus that he would always protect her - always put her first - now Klaus was dead and Dave was about to be murdered by the same bastard who stole his daughter.

Sir. Reginald grunted as a newly conscious Nova plowed into his side and sent him tumbling away into an ancient piece of furniture. The firefighter wiped his bloody lip and offered his hand to Dave who took it and climbed quickly back to his feet. He grabbed the ax which was his only current weapon and pointed it at the old man.

He opened his mouth to say something but promptly stopped when a severe buzzing sound erupted all around them causing them to cover their ears. Reginald stopped and stood up but his gaze was no longer set on Dave or Nova but past them at the entrance of his study.

The lights flickered and several of the bulbs above them shattered, sending glass over the three men. Dave looked over, covering his head from the shards, and his first reaction was joy - his second reaction was to run.

Klaus was hovering just past the doorway, a pulsing, dizzying energy was emanating out from his body. His skin was a deep bluish dead grey and his eyes were sunken black holes into his skull.

Dave grabbed Nova’s arm and they vaulted over one of the desks, hiding just out of sight as Klaus or whoever this was - floated forward.

“Oh shit…” Nova glanced over at Dave as they crouched behind the furniture, “Did you know he could do that?”

They both cringed as the energy washed over them, sending the world spinning and intense pangs of anxiety and unease through them.

“Kind of?”

Nova looked at him skeptically, hands over his ears, “The hell you mean ‘kind of’?!”

*********************************************************************************************************

Klaus watched the scene from a distance - as a passenger in his own mind. His father stood up as if to greet him, properly wiping down his vest and readjusting his stature to seem professional. After everything that he did, he still had the audacity to look pleasantly amused by the shell of his dead son slowly stalking him.

“Number 4--” He patted his chest down as if to grab the monocle but his face fell as his fingers rested on the pocket it was usually stored, now empty. This seemed to catch him off guard more than his son hovering in front of him with black eyes.

He quickly blinked and his hand fell to his side as he looked over the demonic presence in front of him, “Fascinating…”

“I didn’t do anything to you! None of us did! And you still took her away…” Klaus was shouting his lungs out. The darkness surrounding him did not speak or acknowledge, it simply hovered above the old man.

“Number 4, can you hear me?”

“You couldn’t just leave us alone!? We weren't hurting anybody… My baby wasn’t hurting anybody… I swear to god, old man, if you hurt her -” His voice changed and Klaus growled, the darkness overtaking what was left of the human inside.

From an outside perspective it just seemed as if this ghostly, evil version of Klaus was hovering menacingly over Sir. Reginald Hargreeves who was twitching and gasping in horror.

“If you hurt her…” His soul lunged from his body and Reginald fell backwards

The darkness reached out and gripped onto the old man’s heart but it did not move - it held him in a state of agonizing suspense as Reginald’s heart attempted to beat under the pressure. The darkness smiled at Klaus but did not react - Klaus moved forward as they seemed to merge, suddenly he didn’t know where the darkness ended and he began.

He was no longer watching him suffer; instead, he felt him suffer.

“You should not have taken her.” Klaus’ voice mixed with the darkness until they were one in the same.

Klaus reached out his hand and placed it over the darkness surrounding his father’s heart.

“You should not have hurt her.” He squeezed harder and Reginald’s mouth fell open, he clutched his chest and gasped for air.

“You should not have hurt us.” He clenched his fist.

Reginald Hargreeves’ body collapsed to the ground leaving a strange warping soul behind of which Klaus couldn’t quite make out - as if he were looking through the snow of a TV at an old fashioned program. Even in death his father looked dignified and made a point to straighten his back and raise his chin. Klaus raised a hand and with a growl slammed his father’s soul down where it couldn’t hurt anybody again.

Klaus returned to his body, the darkness did not let him go - the roots plunged into his soul and he could feel himself being lost. A part of him, the exhausted, broken part wanted to let it over take him. Let it consume him.

“Klaus?” Dave stood up cautiously from behind the desk and stepped forward towards his floating fiance.

“I need you to come back.”

Klaus screamed as the darkness leached onto his soul - it did not care for this begging. It wanted to lash out at anybody and everyone who got close to him - wanted to rip the souls out of the world just in case until nobody could hurt him or his daughter.

“Klaus, don’t leave me - you’re safe.” Dave’s voice rang through his soul. Klaus reached for it but the Darkness clawed at it.

He pushed back, feeling some of the roots loosen.

There was a snap then suddenly he was no longer hovering in the academy,

He opened his eyes, he was sitting down on a bench. The nightlife around him was so alive and tempting but he was cold. And he was hurting. His body hurt in a more manageable way, although he certainly didn’t feel like that now, in the middle of the Halloween night. He looked down and in his arms was a tiny infant, she was wrapped haphazardly in a black blanket and she was wailing at a truly ear splitting decibel.

Klaus’ hands were shaking so hard as he tried to tease the end of the bottle to her mouth he kept bumping her with it and the infant screamed and squirmed in response.

“Come on - Just eat. For the love of…” He tried again, shifting her down onto his lap and she responded by swiveling her head away from the nipple and screaming.

“She needs to eat, Klaus.” Ben was next to him, uselessly leaning over to get a better look as he struggled to feed the recently summoned newborn.

“You think I don’t know that?!” He snapped.

As if in response, the infant wailed louder. “Shit- Sorry- C’mon! You’ve gotta eat, baby- It’s the only thing you need to do!” His arguments were lost on the infant who continued to dodge the nipple of the bottle.

“You know some animals are born able to hunt - what the hell ever made us the top of the food chain…”

Klaus took a deep shaky breath, setting the squirming, upset baby on his lap. He tried again but his hands still trembled and she still continued to fight.

“Fuck! She’s going to fucking starve…” His shoulders fell in defeat and his voice cracked, “And I can’t even…”

“Just keep trying! She’s gotta eat!”

Klaus nearly doubled over the baby in exhaustion, “Just go away…” He whined, “This was your stupid idea in the first place…I should have-- Oh, hey - “ He looked up to see a Black woman standing a few feet away, staring at him and the baby.

At first glance he thought she might have worked at the store he stole all the baby supplies from and his heart dropped but he quickly deduced that she must have been apart of the line into the nearest club, based on her punk, goth attire. She had a multicolored hairstyle and many piercings, her coat was large, her pants were tight and her boots were extra.

“You’re trying too hard, man.” She walked up casually, even though Klaus must have looked like a lunatic with a hostage baby.

“I- I-”

“Here--” She sat next to him, Ben scrambled to get out of the seat, and reached a hand out, “Do you mind?”

Klaus shook his head.

Instead of taking the baby which he had expected, she simply took his arms and guided the two of them into a different position, he limply complied, too tired to fight. She settled them until the baby was sitting up higher and Klaus had his hand against the back of her neck, holding her head up.

“This is all natural--’ The stranger said, placing her palm over Klaus’ shaking bottle hand, “Just don’t think about it, she trusts you to and you need to trust yourself, understand?”

Klaus nodded his head with a soft whine, he took a few more breaths and tried again, willing his hands to stop trembling and the racing thoughts to calm down. The woman reached over and guided his hand slowly to the baby's mouth , helping to steady him.

As if on cue she latched onto the bottle and finally began to eat, her eyes drooping contentedly as her tummy began to fill up. Klaus’ mouth fell open, “Shit…”

The stranger laughed, “See? You’re going to be fine, she’s not going to starve to death or some crazy shit like that - just go with your instincts and make sure she feels safe, that’s all you gotta do.”

The baby was still gulping down the formula and Klaus was trying his best to keep the shaking in his hands to a minimum.

“That’s all I gotta do?”

She smiled, “Well, I mean, there’s a lot more to it but you’ll figure all that out as you go.”

“Thank you.” He breathed.

“Hey, no problem, man. Here--” She pulled off her coat and draped it over his mostly bare shoulders, “I think you need this more than I do.”

The warmth of the cover almost sent him back into tears as he was blocked against the October night.

“Yo, Kenzie! You coming or what?!” The woman’s friends called to her as the line into the club started to move forward.

She got up, “I’ll be right there!” She looked down at the new father and his newborn, finally eating, “Hey, you got this, friend.”

The stranger winked and then walked away, a few moments later she had disappeared into the crowd of people celebrating a late night Halloween lifestyle. He didn’t want her to go away, he wanted her to stay and keep making the situation okay but instead, he adjusted his legs and inspected the tiny human potato in his arms.

After a while she let go of the nipple and her eyes blinked tiredly. He held her against his chest and patted her back like he had seen people do in movies until she burped and then laid her back down on his lap.

The infant looked up at him, her eyes drooping adorably now that her tummy was full and she was warm inside her blanket. She cooed and her little face broke out in a goofy, sincere smile.

Klaus’ heart melted into a useless puddle of goo inside his chest.

He whined, “Oh… Well, that’s just not fair…”

The darkness released and Klaus’ body gave out, collapsing. Dave caught him and lowered him down gently to the floor, hands brushing feather touches over his torso, re-examining the seeping stomach wound.

“Klaus, can you hear me?”

He nodded, coughing. His throat was shot and his body was fucked up but his heart was beating steadily and he was finally getting full lungs of air. He rolled over, away from Dave and reached out to his father’s dead body. Guilt washed over him and he whimpered - the old man got everything he deserved and Klaus didn’t regret what he had to do so why did the sight of it send horror and shame through his veins?

“I’m sorry, dad…” He whispered.

Dave and Nova shot nervous glances at each other.

“Hey!” Liev all but tumbled into the room, out of breath, they pointed their thumb over their shoulder, “I found where he’s keeping her - she’s--”

An explosion from the core of the mansion rattled the walls and sent everyone who was standing grabbing for support.

“Shit!” Nova ran to join Liev in the doorway.

“Kenzie…”

“Can you stand?”

Klaus nodded and let Dave pull him up onto shaky, weakened legs. He almost instantly collapsed again if it weren’t for hsi finance ducking under his arm and wrapping around his middle to hold him up. “I’ve got you.”

They followed Leiv to a secret elevator that Klaus had never seen, after living in the godforsaken house for 18 years there were still secret rooms he never discovered. The farther they went down the warmer it got until they reached the bottom floor and it was stifling hot. They all scrambled out of the elevator and into a large concrete room, in the middle of which was a small square cell.

A tower of flames shot up from the top, beginning to consume the area around it - the metal frame was melting and waves of intense, burning heat were imananting from the center of the cell. From the middle of the collapsing structure what looked like a gate to the center of hell was just consuming the environment.

Klaus lunged forward, grabbing onto the handle of the door and shoving it down - his hands instantly blistered and he screamed in pain.

“Klaus, no!” Dave tried to stop him but a moment later they were all being thrown backwards as the door burst open sending them into the back wall.

Ben watched as they hit the wall and tumbled to the ground, scrambling to get back up and help. He couldn’t see much through the flames and the black smoke twisting and curling around them but he thought he saw Klaus and his heart soared in relief.

She had lost control and it seemed like nothing he was saying or doing was going to calm her down, he pulled from his brother’s power and stepped through the ring of flames blocking him from his niece. Behind him Klaus collapsed as energy drained from him, he fell to his hands and knees but didn’t fight it and just let Ben take what he needed.

Kenzie’s face was twisted in confusion and fear, he reached out with all of his effort and put a soft hand on her arm - “Sweetie - it’s time to go home but I need you to let go. We can’t help you if you don’t let us near you.”

“I don’t know how!”

“Yes. You do.” Ben knelt down and put his hands on either side of her face. He should not have been able to feel the fire but as he touched her his cold blue form turned a brilliant orange as veins of fire wrapped around his body burning through the normally numb existence.

She shook her head.

“Kenzie - look at me, please.”

After a few moments she forcefully opened her eyes.

“I know that you’re so scared and I know that you feel so alone right now but you’re not. This bad dream is over and you came out on top - now, let me take care of you. Let me take you home, okay? Your mom and dad are waiting for us.”

He knew she was trying but she was so overpowered by the fire and she was struggling to keep it as contained as it currently was.

Ben smiled, “Hey - hey, listen to me. I’m going to tell you a secret, okay? I stopped your momma from naming you Ouija. There has never been a single moment where I have not had your back, okay? I just need you to trust me now. Just let go, I’ll catch you.”

“Just let go, Kenzie.”

She whined and closed her eyes, after a moment the flaming tornado ceased and she fell forward. Ben caught her and held her - covering her as the cell collapsed around them sending pieces of metal and ash piled on top of them. The burning ropes around his body dissipated and he was left back to his usual numb blue color. The debris bounced off of his corporeal blue form and he was lucky enough not to feel any of it.

“Good job, baby. You did good.”

He waited for everything to cease falling over them to use his body to push them both up through the rubble. Klaus, Dave, Nova, and Liev were circling the area yelling for them - even with 3 quarters of the group wearing firefighting gear the heat was too intense for them to get too close.

A massive emergency sprinkler system which Reginald had been smart enough to add went off and doused everything and everyone in a heavy sheet of water sending steam up from Kenzie’s skin.

Ben took a step out of the cell and Klaus made the most heart wrenching sound as he caught a glimpse of Kenzie sitting safely against the ghost’s shoulder. His brother looked awful - half of his clothes were covered in blood and vomit - his skin was still a purplish corpse gray and his hands were bleeding from the palms. Nonetheless, he moved forward out of Dave’s grip towards them.

“Wait - Here.” Liev was the first to reach them, they threw their kevlar cover over the child, and inspected her with heavily gloved hands. Just in time for Klaus to completely ignore them and reach out for her anyway - but thankfully with the protection she didn’t burn him as badly.

Kenzie gasped as she saw him and moved to grab onto her father’s neck - Ben moved to lean her down so that Klaus could get to his knees first before letting her full weight fall against him. He gripped her tightly against his chest while Ben kept a hand pressed against her back - neither of them wanting to let her go too far.

Ben glanced up as Liev’s placed a firm hand on his shoulder and squeezed. They gave him an encouraging smile.

“I’m so sorry, Kenzie. I’m so fucking sorry…”

She pulled away, taking in Klaus’ appearance and then she glanced back at her uncle Ben, “Are you dead?”

Klaus laughed and shook his head, “Are you kidding me? You think a little death is going to keep me away from you? No, I’m peachy - nothing a little TLC can’t fix, right?”

“Where is the- The bad man? He said you weren’t ever coming back.” She sniffled, “He said I was never going to go home.”

He pulled her straight back into his chest, her body was burning hot against his corpse cold figure.

“He was an old evil man baby - Evil’s hard on the heart. He can’t get you anymore, I promise.” Klaus let out a teary laugh, “He should have known not to mess with us -”

“Because we’re scarier than the spooks?”

“Because we’re the scariest thing in this goddamn city.”

“I was scared, momma.” She admitted, leaning back and searching his face.

He used the back of his burnt hand to wipe away at her tears and nodded, “Yeah, me too, pumpkin. It’s okay to be scared.”

“I love you so much, Kenzie - you don’t have any idea, little fireball.”

“I love you too.”

Dave dropped to the floor next to them, inspecting her closely. “Kenzie - are you okay?”

She didn’t answer and just fell back into Klaus’ arms, he wrapped her up as tightly as he could. Ben grabbed both of them and buried his face in his brother’s neck. Dave covered them all up and they stayed there for a long time huddled on the ground, half of them freezing, half of them burning and all off them soaked in the ceiling water.

Liev and Nova were talking in urgent hushed tones just off to the side until finally Liev walked up and gently tapped Dave’s back.

“Hey, man - We need to get you guys to a hospital, those burns aren’t going to get any better.”

Klaus lifted his head up, “No hospitals - I can’t-- I can’t even…” He loosely waved one hand trying to get his point across but he wasn’t getting anywhere and his speech was beginning to slur as the adrenaline began to wear off.

Dave shook his head, “The ghosts won’t leave him alone and he won’t be able to push them away. Also there’s the… Other thing… that may make it a bad idea to go to a.. Public hospital.”

They nodded, “I see, okay - you got a med kit in your car, Katz?”

“Yeah, we can patch him up there.”

“Li and I will clean things up here.”

Dave pressed a kiss to the back of Kenzie’s head, “Let’s go home.”

Klaus made a movement to stand and Kenzie’ reacted by clinging on harder along with a loud noise of protest. Ben tried to grab her but he was flickering away as Klaus’ abilities waned from his injuries. Luckily Dave stepped in, “Hey, hold on to mom’s wrist, okay? Don’t let go.”

She obliged and held on to Klaus’ wrist as Dave lifted her onto his hip. Nova all but lifted Klaus’ entire body up back onto shaky legs and helped him drape an arm around Dave’s neck. He began to move away from the violent scene, Kenzie on his hip holding onto her father while also supporting half of his fiance’s weight.

As they were leaving Liev placed a hand on Ben’s slowly dissipating form, “Hey, are you okay.”

He looked back at them, “Yeah - Yeah, I’m okay.”

They smirked, “Liar.”

His expression suddenly softened and his brow furrowed - he quickly leaned over and pulled them into a hug, burying his face in their neck. They clung onto him, rubbing small circles against his back with their thumb until he lost his corporeal nature and their arms fell straight through them.

Ben sighed and stepped away, “Thank you--” His voice faded in and out as Dave and Klaus moved further away.

Liev cleared their throat and did a quick salute - twisting on their heel and moving to joining Nova as he inspected what looked like an explosion crater in the middle of this creepy jail basement.

***************************************************************************************************

Ben glanced behind his seat - Klaus was laid out carefully against a firefighting jacket, propped up against the door with Kenzie lying over his lap still gripping onto his arm. They both seemed to be asleep and looked almost peaceful it weren’t for Klaus’ gratuitous injuries and Kenzie’s soot covered face.

Dave’s hands were gripped tightly around the steering wheel and his jaw was tense, staring straight ahead. Finally, he glanced over at the ghost who was flickering in and out of visibility in the passenger seat, “We need to tell Sally what’s going on.”

Ben nodded quickly, “Yeah, maybe I can talk her into coming home for a little while?”

“I’d like that…” He swallowed, “I’d feel better if we had everyone together at home.”

“Me too.”

Dave pulled up to the edge of the fully darkened and foreboding playground just behind the elementary school and parked as close as he could to the fence. Ben glanced back one more time at his brother and niece before looking back at Dave, “I’ll be right back.”

Ben made his way through the darkened playground, eyes scanning over the environment for a familiar face. Luckily, this area was generally pretty empty at night, ghosts included - he worried about Sally being here all by herself which he knew was ridiculous since she had been existing just fine all on her own for the past who knows how long.

“Sally?” He called out, seeing the slight movement of the swing where she usually sat.

A small head popped out from behind the big tree just off to the side, wide eyed and nervous from their hiding spot.

“Sally? It’s just me - I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She ran out from behind the tree, a small relieved grin over her features, “Did you come to play with me?”

He knelt down, “Not tonight, I’m afraid - Sally, I just wanted to let you know that something happened tonight and Kenzie won’t be coming to school in the morning.”

“She’s okay--” He added as Sally’s eyes widened.

“But I was kind of hoping that you would come home with us - we’re all a bit shaken up and we’d like for you to be there.”

She thought about it for a moment, “Why?” The little ghost asked curiously.

“Because you’re family and family always sticks together.”

“I’m family…”

He put a hand on her shoulder, “Yeah - Sal, I know, better than anyone, what it’s like to be invisible and to just constantly watch while the world you once knew moves on without you. And tonight, there was a moment where I thought that I wouldn’t be coming back. Do you know what that made me realize?”

She shook her head.

“That I’m very lucky. I’m lucky to be a part of this world and I’m lucky that I got to meet people like you - You don’t have to hide away anymore, I know that you’re scared. I was scared too - but I’ll make sure that you’re safe and that you're not alone. If you’ll let me.”

She thought about this for several moments, then in true Sally fashion, “I’d like that.” She said simply.

Ben couldn’t help but grin despite himself, “Thank you.” He pulled her in for a victorious hug then pushed the hair away from her face, “Let’s go home, huh?”

She nodded, grabbing onto his neck, “Let’s go home. It’s too cold out here.”

Ben walked them back to the car and settled her on his lap in the front seat, even as they got into the car their corporeal natures were fading in and out.

Dave sighed as he realized that he convinced the stubborn ghost to come home, “How are you doing, Sally?”

“I’m good.” She reached out and patted the driver’s shoulder which made both Dave and Ben laugh.

Klaus’ head shot up with a grunt, “S’matter?”

Dave glanced back through the rearview mirror, “It’s okay, baby. We’re just picking up Sally.”

Klaus’ eyes squinted blearily into the front seat, Sally reached back with an open hand. His face softened as he came out of sleep for a moment, “Hi, baby” He reciprocated and he gingerly tapped the edge of her fingers with his own, careful not to jostle the hastily wrapped burns.

“Everyone’s here now…” He mumbled, sinking back into his seat, “We’re all going home…”

******************************************************************************************************

Their home wasn’t incredibly torn up, there was food on the floor and several of Kenzie’s belongings had been broken after she fell onto the table but those things were fixable. However, the whole place felt violated and that was apparent in the way everyone seemed to be hovering around not sure what to do for the first several moments.

“It’s broke now! It- the- she won’t even dance!” Kenzie started to pick up the pieces of the music box given to her by Allison, the lid was unhinged and the ballerina inside was missing part of her arm and dress. There were also shards of glass that she danced on scattered around the floor.

Dave all but dove into the room and grabbed her up off the floor and onto her bed with much pretest from the child, “Those are sharp, Kenzie, be careful!”

“Who cares!? Don’t touch it!” She snapped, starting to yell now as a fresh set of tears started to well up in her eyes.

Dave turned around for a brief moment before turning back to the child, “Hey, hey--’ He cautiously moved through the glass and sat down on the bed.

“You really love this music box, right?”

“Of course I do! Aunt Allison gave her to me! She was PERFECT!”

Dave put a calming hand up, “I’m so sorry she was broken - I know that you must be really angry because you were so careful with her and you took good care of her, right?”

“Yeah, I was…”

“Then this happened and someone mean came in and broke her - that wasn’t your fault.”

She shook her head, cradling the remnants of the box in her lap.

“I understand why that would make you so angry - but guess what?”

“What?”

He held up the figurine’s remaining arm and hand to the severed elbow and it fit perfectly together, “We can’t do anything about what happened but we can fix her- we have all the pieces right here.”

He gestured to the floor littered with pieces, “Let me clean up this glass and then we’ll save the parts and I’ll help you put her back together, does that sound okay.”

Kenzie sniffled slightly but nodded anyway, continuing to hold the arm up to the broken elbow.

“That’s my girl! Stay right here and I’ll sweep this up, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I can get that, Dave - Can you take Klaus’ temperature? Everytime I try with the digital it just bounces all over the place.” Ben leaned in the doorway after catching the tail end of their conversation.

Dave nodded and grabbed their digital thermometer, hearing ben continuing the conversation with Kenzie while he swept up the pieces of glass. Klaus was settled stiffly on corner of the couch, his shoulders were low and his eyes were set far away at nothing. He had several blankets already piled on top of his body.

“How else should we expect for her to react? Her grandfather came in and wrecked her shit…” He mumbled.

Dave pressed the point of the device to Klaus’ forehead, “We can fix it, I promise.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he brought it up to read the number displayed, he zeroed it out then pressed it against his fiance’s head one more time. As it displayed the same number he sighed, “90 degrees”

He walked past Ben into Kenzie’s room and pressed the end of the thermometer against her forehead. It beeped and he read the screen, “110.”

Dave and Ben exchanged a glance, “We’ll keep them together - maybe they’ll even each other out?”

Ben shrugged, “Worth a shot.”

In the next room, Sally looked up at Klaus with big blue eyes, “You don’t look good.” She stated bluntly.

Klaus chuckled, “Why, thank you.”

After that he continued to lose bits and pieces of time as everyone got settled and started putting their home back together.

“Klaus? Stay with me…” Dave was knelt down in front of his fiance, carefully bandaging the burns spread over his palms and fingers. Klaus’ hands were hanging limply over his lap and his expression was fading in and out - eyes unfocusing.

He reached up a hand and cupped the side of Klaus’ face, “Klaus?”

After a moment Klaus blinked slowly and his eyes caught with Dave’s, wide and watery - “Shit…”

Dave nodded, “Shit.”

“Hmm.. you okay?” Klaus’ eyes drooped and he leaned forward, “You seem to be handling this pretty well, considering.”

“I’m just trying to get through this.” As proven by his career choices, Dave tended to handle crisis and stress incredibly well and was able to shut down and do what he needed to do in order to survive.however, It would always come back to bite him in the ass later.

“I thought I lost you.” Dave swallowed, “I thought I lost all of you. Seeing you on the ground like that--”

“‘M right here.” he curled over his fiance as best he could and Dave responded by laying his head briefly against his thigh.

“We’re going to be okay - “ Dave’s voice broke slightly and he lifted his head, “He won’t hurt you anymore, we can move on. We’ll get you and Kenz’ into see someone to talk to and we’ll just handle this head on, okay? We’ll take all the time we need to recover and we’ll survive this.”
Dave stumbled through his thoughts but when he glanced back up Klaus was smiling at him, a tired, goofy, grin.

“What?”

“You’re doing great.”

Dave huffed, “I seem that fucked up?”

“Yeah, but like you said, we’ll be fine. We just--” He yawned, cringing as his body tensed up painfully, “We just need to get some sleepy time.”

“I think you’re right but I don’t think I’ll get any sleep.” He placed a comforting hand on Klaus’ thigh and squeezed gently, “As long as you’re comfortable I can set you up in here.”

Klaus glanced at the front door, “Yeah, I’m peachy, nursemaid. Is the baby asleep?”

Dave laughed lightly, ”You’re not going to be able to call her ‘the baby’ for much longer, she created a portal to hell just a few hours ago.”

Klaus waved him off, “I’ll call her the baby when she’s ruling Hell, thank you very much.”

“And no - fire baby’s not asleep. And I’m not going to fight her on this - I figure she’ll drop when she’s ready. She’s running 3 seconds from bursting into flames right now so we’re trying to keep it chill.”

“That’s perfect, I’m so cold my entire body is numb.” Klaus glanced over his shoulder “Pumpkin!?”

In her room Kenzie sat with her legs crossed in the middle of her bed, she was exhausted but she was actively fighting sleep. Dangling from her fingers like a pendulum on a chain was the monocle which she had lifted without the old man’s knowledge.

She studied it, entranced then held it up to her eye - glancing around her room and landing on the doll where Rot- rot was sleeping. Her head tilted as she stared through the glass and she jumped when she heard her father’s voice from the other room.

She tucked the monocle under her pillow and ran into the living room, she was asleep in her father’s arms a few minutes later and for a moment it seemed like their whole world had never been broken.

************************************************************************************************************
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The next evening…

Luther Hargeeves quietly went through his normal ‘morning’ routines, he had been alone on the cramped moon base for over 4 years and it was starting to get to him. He didn’t let that show, however as he watered his plant, suited up and walked a bag of trash to the disposal area with heavy low gravity steps.

He paused for a moment, staring out into the cold emptiness of space where the beautiful blue earth below him was highlighted by the cresting sun.

A news alert notification came through over his comms and he sighed, patching it through. As the message played his heart dropped and before he could stop it a tear rolled down his cheek.
*******************

Allison walked confidently over the red carpet looking like an actual queen in her insanely expensive dress and jewelry. The outside events happening in the rest of her life were completely unimportant to the eager photographers and paparazzi - not that she exuded anything but grace and celebrity.

She flicked her wrist in small, polite waves and smiled for the cameras. She posed calmly and ignored the shouting praises and requests from both her fans and the money hungry paparazzi.

She reacted only by leaning back as her assistant hurriedly ran out onto the red carpet. She wasn’t supposed to do that and it caught Allison off guard, however, she did not stop waving even as the phones in the crowd began to chime obnoxiously as everyone in the crowd received this deeply personal news just seconds before she did.

Her assistant whispered something into her ear and for a moment she faltered, glancing around and taking a quick inhale. She frowned and took a step backwards before dropping her head to the onslaught of cameras and new questions.

“Allison! Allison! What will you wear to the funeral?!”

She moved away, sending quick waves at the crowd and let her assistant lead her away.
*************************

Diego sent a perfectly aimed knife through the shoulder of the home invader pinning the now terrified man to the wall. He punched him unconscious and pulled out his blade - he stalked through the rest of the home and dispatched the rest of the criminals with relative ease while the traumatized homeowners sobbed and yelled through their gags from where they were tied up in the kitchen.

He had been in a pretty bad moon, dealing with the recent split with Eudora and rather than work through his feelings he decided to go roaming the streets looking for a fight. These poor people were very lucky he happened to be patrolling nearby at the right time.

He finished tying up the perps, all of them unconscious, and tossed them against the wall. He glanced over to the family he just saved, “Your family’s safe now.”

He said simply.

Before he left the Tv which had been playing in the background switched to an emergency news broadcast, his fathers stern face flashed over the screen and he halted him in his tracks.

“Holy shit…”
**************************

Vanya walked calmly through the darkened streets of the city with her violin case at her side after coming from a particularly successful practice. She paused just outside an electronics store with a variety of TVs displayed in the window.

The sight of her father’s face stopped her and she peered into the window.

“Breaking news: Eccentric billionaire and founder of the umbrella Academy has been found dead in his downtown mansion of an apparent heart attack.”

Vanya’s mouth opened, “Dad…”

A firm hand grabbed hers and squeezed, “I’m so sorry.”

Vanya swallowed and looked back to where Sophie was standing just over her shoulder, despite everything she smiled at her partner’s empathic expression. She reached out and put the palm of her hand over Sophie’s pregnant belly and rubbed protectively. A small glimmer of blue light pulsed in time to the heartbeat of their baby and dissipated harmlessly into the night.

“It’s okay.”
*********************

Klaus Hargreeves hummed softly, his fingers stroked through his daughter’s hair, it was still painful through the wrappings but he wasn’t thinking about it. Kenzie was cuddled up over the three comforters that were covering Klaus’ body, she fell asleep early - probably still exhausted from the night before. No one made an attempt to move anybody and Klaus didn’t care if sleeping in the living room was just going to be his new normal as long as he knew she was safe with him.

At his feet, Sally was sitting on Ben’s lap, her ghostly fingers quickly moving through the controls of a handheld video game. Soft 8-bit songs played barely registering over the sound of the cartoon currently playing on the TV. Ben was reading around Sally, his free arm keeping her steady when she got particularly passionate about a level.

Klaus was huddled underneath Dave’s arm watching the screen with a blank expression, he was too tired to care what was happening but still too anxious to feel comfortable being without his family.

He had accidentally drifted off when the pressure of Dave’s arm tensing around his shoulders made his eyes shoot open. His father’s face was displayed on the corner of the screen while a stern faced woman reported his death by heart attack. Then they announced the time of the funeral.

Klaus breathed out in relief and Dave did the same - there was no mention of any foul play.

“Took them long enough to announce it.” Klaus whispered, his voice barely audible to anybody but Dave.

“Liev and Nova said that they would clean it up. I have no idea what that entails.”

Klaus couldn’t take his eyes off the scowling face of his father displayed in the corner of the screen, “Shit…”

Dave squeezed his shoulder, rubbing softly and Klaus exhaled, “I guess it’s time to go shopping for a funeral.”

“Hey--” Dave caught his eye, “It’s going to be okay, we made it through the worst of it and now we can move on. It’s not the end of the world.”

Klaus smiled and snuggled up closer to his Fiance, pulling Kenzie tighter against his chest. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling of being surrounded by his family and despite the situation he felt a deep warmth spreading through his chest.

“You’re right--” He closed his eyes.

“It’s not the end of the world...”