#first two chapters up now. third up in early july. 4th & 5th by the end of july godwilling 🙏

[sibylsleaves]

you're almost home (i've been waiting for you to come in)

11k | rated M | chapters 2/5 | read on ao3  “You’re really starting over, then,” Eddie says. “That’s what I wanted,” Buck replies. “Clean slate, you know?” “Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need,” Eddie says, knocking his shoulder against Buck’s. “That should go without saying.” When Buck had hastily packed his bag and slipped out the door to his Jeep, he hadn’t really known where he was heading for the night. He thought about going to Maddie’s place, or even Albert’s new apartment, but in the end he’d driven himself here—to Eddie’s. Buck moves in. Eddie comes out. Things get a little messy.

“So,” Eddie says, handing Buck a beer. “You told Taylor to stay at the loft as long as she wants because you feel bad? Last time we talked you said you were pissed at her.”

“I am,” Buck agrees, taking the beer gratefully. He’s camped out on Eddie’s couch, a duffel bag full of his clothes on the floor, some kind of cooking competition show playing quietly on the TV in front of them. “But I still feel bad. I mean, she screwed up, but I also screwed up by asking her to move in. She had to break her lease, which was only financially doable because she thought she’d be splitting rent with me for the foreseeable future. If she gets a new place now she’ll have to pay first and last month’s rent, which also isn’t cheap. And it’s not like reporters make a lot of money.”

“True,” Eddie concedes. “Still. You didn’t have to give her your apartment.”

“Yeah, but…” Buck trails off, not sure he really knows how to put the rest of it into words. How Taylor had accused Buck of trapping her at the loft, but the more he thought about staying in that cavernous space after she left, the more it felt like he’d actually trapped himself there. “It’s mostly filled with her stuff now anyway. I got rid of a lot when she moved in.”

That’s probably some kind of metaphor for their whole relationship.

“You’re really starting over, then,” Eddie says.

“That’s what I wanted,” Buck replies. “Clean slate, you know?”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need,” Eddie says, knocking his shoulder against Buck’s. “That should go without saying.”

When Buck had hastily packed his bag and slipped out the door to his Jeep, he hadn’t really known where he was heading for the night. He thought about going to Maddie’s place, or even Albert’s new apartment, but in the end he’d driven himself here—to Eddie’s.

“Chris is going to be so excited when he sees you here in the morning,” Eddie says. “He’s probably not gonna want to go to school.”

“I can take him,” Buck says at once.

“You sure?”

“‘Course,” Buck replies easily. “That way me and Chris can get some extra hang out time in before school, and you’ll be free to run by the station with those transfer papers sitting on the kitchen table.”

Eddie freezes. Then he huffs out a laugh. “You saw those, huh?”

(keep reading on ao3)

[soyl4ndo]

Austria 2020 | Lando Norris

Part of the Sweet Dreams series

previous chapter: Confessions word count: 2.2k words warnings: slow burn, chaotic race, race stress, fluff english is not my first language

LOS ANGELES, AMERICA - JULY 5TH 2020 You sat down on the couch in the living room, you had opened the backyard doors, letting the summer breeze wake you up. It was pretty warm in the house but in general as well. You had woken up at three in the morning, so it was too early for you to put on the air conditioning. Yesterday you had watched qualifying with Harper and Sophia. It was different this time to last year, as now you were not only rooting for Max and Daniel anymore. This year you went from looking at two drivers on the timesheet to eight different drivers. All because they became your friends over the past few months. Sophia was already sitting on the couch, with the tv on when you came downstairs. You were preparing some snacks when Harper shambled into the living room. Although you were a night owl, even for you it was early. Sophia had put on the pre-race show, none of you were really paying attention to it until you heard about Hamilton receiving a three place grid penalty for not slowing down during yellow flags. This meant for Max and Lando that they would both move up one place and now had a podium position. You were always nervous for the start of every race, but this time you were even more nervous and the race hadn’t even started.

There was a nine hours difference between you and Austria. Now that Lando was back to racing, you would have thought that the amount of texting would decrease, him being tired by the end of the day because of all the hard work. You thought you would move along another, just not catching each other to have a real conversation. At least that is what happened with Pierre, no hard feelings but you were glad the texting had ended that way. You didn’t know how else to tell him you were not interested. By the time the race was about to start it had gotten lighter outside and you could see the sunrise. You knew from last year that in a few minutes the drivers would leave their phones behind and fully focus on their race. So you decide to wish them all good luck. You felt your own nervousness growing when the cars are doing their formation lap, it was a very warm day in Austria. “It’s lights out and away we go.” You hear Crofty say as the lights go out and the cars drive off, 71 laps to go.

You were biting your nails into the very first few corners, seeing how close Max and Lando were next to each other. You hated it when cars got too close to one another, but that was part of the whole race. Sometimes you wondered why you kept on watching if after every race, you felt like you went through multiple heart attacks. Bottas got away quite nicely, creating a gap of 2,5 seconds after the first lap. George on the other hand didn’t have a great start and dropped down two places, you hadn’t noticed it until Sophia pointed it out. The laps went by pretty quickly, with every lap passing by you could sense that something wasn’t right. On the 4th lap, Lando had dropped down to P5 and you were told that Carlos his pace had dropped down. You thought this was it, now the weird gut feeling would disappear, but you were wrong. On the 11th lap, you see Max driving slowly on the second straight. Cars passed him by without any problem, dropping down from 2nd all the way down to 20th. Max was trying to restart the car, but he kept on getting anti-stall. He eventually decides to come into the pits, hoping a change of steering wheel would solve the problem. Unfortunately, Max had to retire his car, after dealing with power issues. You knew Max wasn’t going to read your text immediately, but you had to text him with “Fuck”. You thought this was it, no more chaos from now on, but Daniel got stuck in third gear on the 18th lap also retiring from the race. Great you think, please let this be it but of course the universe had other plans. Four laps later Stroll had to retire his car and was Grosjean the first to pit after spinning and ending up in the gravel. If that wasn’t enough, four laps later Magnussen suffers from brake issues. Not being able to make the corner, Magnussen retires his car on the side of the track, bringing out a yellow flag. “safety car deployed,” You hear Crofty say, and lots of drivers drive into the pits. The stress and fear kept building up when you see Perez having an unsafe release and almost crashing into Lando, your heart dropped down to your stomach. Already seeing how this would end the wrong way, but luckily nothing bad happened.

It was the 30th lap and the safety car would end this lap, just as with the start you hold your breath. You see Vettel trying to take the inside on Carlos, just as he is about to turn into the corner. Carlos touched Vettel, which caused him to spin around. 20 laps long there was nothing going on, finally some time to catch your breath. You could feel your blood pressure dropping down. When you see another Haas suffering from brake issues, just like that Grosjean is out of the race. George was having a consistent race at the back of the grid, but even he was having issues, having to retire the car on the side of the track bringing out another safety car. The safety car drives into the pit lane after a few lap, that is when you see a tyre flying across the screen. You look on the timesheet and see that is Raikkonen, losing his tyre in the last corner coming to a stand still on the main straight, another safety car.

Yellow flag after yellow flag, safety car after safety car, hoping this was the last on the race resumes. It was the 61st lap, Alex was about to overtake Hamilton on the outside when Alex gets forced into the gravel, spinning around and dropping down to 13th position, Alex had a repeat of events from last year. Alex was now last on get grid, with everyone retiring from the race. You knew the FIA would investigate this and if that was not the case you would personally come and tell them what was going wrong in that specific moment. Not much later the official announcement of a five-second penalty for Hamilton show up on the tv. You immediately start doing your maths and come to the conclusion that Hamilton might end up behind Carlos, which would be in sixth place. Two laps later Perez also gets a five-second penalty, as he was speeding in the pit lane. Slowly a smile starts growing onto your face when you realize that all these penalties mean that Lando would move up to third place, as long as he kept himself within those five seconds. Shortly after the penalty announcement of Perez, Alex slows down on the grid, by this time you weren’t even surprised anymore. If all retirement weren’t enough already, Kvyat gets a tyre puncture, leaving just eleven drivers on the grid, fighting for some points. Due to all the chaos, you hadn’t realize it was the last lap, Lando was in fourth place just a bit over five seconds behind Hamilton. Your heart was beating like crazy, probably racing just as fast as those cars. Trying to retain your focus on the race you hear Crofty scream “Valterri Bottas is the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix.” There was so much going on that you couldn’t notice the gap between Lando and Hamilton. Lando hadn’t overtaken Hamilton, so if he wanted to be on that podium he needed to be within those five seconds. It is then that you hear Crofty cheer “and Lando Norris gets on the podium for the first time in Formula 1.” You jump up from the couch just like Harper and Sophia. Everyone in the McLaren garage was cheering and clapping just like you were. You see how Lando runs to Zak and jumps into his arms. Zak looks so happy and all you could think about is that soon you were going to be there as well. Lando’s celebratory radio is shown on the tv, hearing the beeps you knew he was cussing like crazy.

You are watching the podium and can’t stop smiling. Lando being his silly self and pouring the champagne over his head, making you laugh at his actions. After all the chaos that happen to be a race, you were happy it ended like this. It is then that you realize race weekends were going to be so much more fun and probably difficult. There was going to be many more chances that your favorite person was getting a podium, while your best fired had to retire from the race. As it was still early on in the day you decide to lay down for a few hours and catch up on some sleep, but before you do, you send Lando a text.

RED BULL RING, AUSTRIA “YOU ARE INSANE!! Congrats on that podium! I would love to have said it to your face, but you’re probably way too busy” From the moment he set foot out of that car he had a smile on his face, but your message to him made that smile even brighter. “Thank you, thank you. No worries about that, just call me when you wake up 😉“ Lando knew you would be asleep. When you woke up later than you had planned, you weren’t expecting a text back from Lando. It wasn’t all too late in Austria so Lando stayed online as he saw you were typing something back to him. “Well, I think you might be asleep by now, nap took a little longer than anticipated.” Without really thinking things through or sending you a heads up Lando decides to FaceTime you. As the call connects a smile appears on both your faces. “There he is, the podium sitter of today. Look at you, freaking getting a podium on the first race of the season.” You say and notice Lando was slightly blushing. “It was insane” “I bet, how are the eyes?” You noticed his eyes were still red. “Still burning and itching.” Lando takes a bit off his ice cream. “I see you’re celebrating by eating ice cream.” “Yes, you’re free to join.” He holds up his spoon filled with ice cream. You went downstairs to take a look in your freezer, to your luck there was still a small cup of ice cream. “It isn’t much, but is vanilla allowed to the party?” You show off the almost empty cup, Lando laughs “Vanilla is more than welcome.” It was the first time you were seeing each other over the phone, Lando realized and says “Sorry it you didn’t mean FaceTime, I just figured-“ You cut off Lando before he starts rambling like he always does when he is nervous. “It is fine, I like it actually. It’s good to see you after all those months.” “Indeed, although it doesn’t feel like months.” You smile at his words.

LOS ANGELES, AMERICA You don’t know what it was, but the way he just sat there was so cute to you. Still glowing from his little victory, enjoying ice cream like a little kid. You made yourself comfortable on the couch as well. Lando and you talked for a few more hours. It was, unfortunately, getting late in Austria and Lando was showing his tiredness, so you decide to end the call. “FaceTime you later this week?” Lando asked shyly. “Would love to.” You say your goodbyes, and sigh once you hit the red button to end the call. With a beaming smile on your face, you hear people storming down the stairs. You jumped up as you thought they were falling down the stairs, only to find them eavesdropping, waiting for the moment you’d hang up. “You sounded so sweet” Sophia says as she squeezes your face so you form a pout with your lips. “He must find you special if he wants to call you at such a late hour.” Harper wiggles her eyebrows, clearly teasing you as always. “I just wanted to congratulate him on his podium..” You innocently say and throw away your empty cup “..oh and we need more ice cream.” You walk out of the kitchen for the two girls to gush over you.

Next Chapter

[wykart]

Does it Matter (It’s Klaus)

Part 2 of Fifty-one years (and one day) later (read on ao3)

Summary: The truth comes out, and Klaus must come to grips with the fact that his entire life of happiness with Dave was taken away by his own brother.

Chapter 5: Playing on (chpt. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5)

1 day, 17 hours

Vanya was in the hospital waiting room when Diego found her. She was on edge, playing the events of the previous night over and over in her head. That anger, that fear, building and building as the noise of the engine rattled and roared, consuming her, filling her with energy and then... spilling over. Surging out in a tidal wave. She wished she had her pills, something to take away the tumultuous emotions she was feeling, the guilt, the fear, her shameful sense of pride at what she was, what she’d been all along. Special. She wished she could make it stop.

“Vanya!” She turned to see him, Diego, jogging down the hall in that ridiculous vigilante get up. What the hell was he doing here? “Are you okay, did he hurt you?”

He sounded out of breath, and scared. It wasn’t often that her brother showed fear. “I’m fine.” She said, taken aback. “Diego, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Allison and I were on our way to get you when I picked up the report on my radio, something about an attack at a bar close by, the description sounded like you so I came right away. We have to get you back to the academy, now.”

“W-wait a minute, why were you coming to get me? You guys didn’t want anything to do with me yesterday.”

“Yeah well, that was before we found out your boyfriend is a psycho murderer.”

“What!” She exclaimed. Then it all made sense. Allison was trying to play big sister again, and now she’d roped in her over-protective brothers as well. “Is Allison the one doing this? She needs to get off my case, god I can’t believe you guys.”

Diego looked puzzled. “You mean, he hasn’t hurt you or anything?”

“No, of course not. He was just taking me out on a trip to the lake. We went out for dinner last night and got jumped by some crazies and…” She didn’t know what to tell him. There was no denying it now, though, she had power, power that she didn’t understand let alone know how to control.

“But the police report said two of them were dead. You telling me that wasn’t him?”

“No it was... I don’t remember okay. But I’m fine, I don’t need to go back to the city. I need to stay with Leonard, he hasn’t woken up yet and I…” She trailed off, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of his room.

“Vanya, look.” Diego held out a file brimming with paperwork, stamped with the name Harold Jenkins. Skeptical at first, she took a closer look. It was Leonard, he’d been released from prison just a few months ago.

Diego went on to tell her about what they’d found in his house. The old umbrella academy memorabilia, scratched out eyes, melted heads. All the while, Vanya could feel that power building inside her, and she struggled to keep it pushed down. The rows of fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered and faltered, dimming the clinical white of the hospital hall. The air felt heavy, alive, answering to her emotions. “We thought he was going to hurt you,” Diego continued, "and Five says that this guy right here,” he pointed at Leonard’s unflattering mugshot, “is going to cause the apocalypse.”

“Ok but Five is-“ She felt awful saying it. When they were kids, they’d tell each other everything, but what Five had confided in her that night had been, well, insane. “He’s deranged. He says he’s been alone for nearly fifty years, and he’s clearly not himself right now.”

“I know it’s difficult to believe, but you’ve missed a lot these past few days.”

“Right, and who’s fault is that? I’m the one who’s a liability.”

“Look,” he smirked, averting her gaze, “I’m sorry Vanya, but you need to trust me now. Allison is back at Jenkins’ grandma’s house, we split up to try and find you. You should head there right away, I’ve got something I need to do.” Diego looked off in the direction that Vanya had glanced over at earlier. She wondered what he was thinking of doing.

“Where’s Five now?”

“He said he’d meet us here with Klaus and Luther, but I don’t think they expected us to find you so fast. I’ll tell them to hold off if they haven’t left yet, save them the trouble. There a phone somewhere here?” She pointed him towards the wall-mounted landline just outside the waiting room. He went over and dialled the number of the academy while Vanya stood against the wall, trying to catch her breath. She clutched the police file in her hand, the grainy mug shot of the man she’d been coming to love clipped to the front. Harold Jenkins... she couldn’t believe it. Even if he was a murderer, he’d been thirteen, that didn’t mean he still wanted to hurt people now. It made sense for him to want a fresh start after all that. She herself had often wondered if she should shed the Hargreeves name, given the infamy and memories, associated with it.

Vanya heard a deep, muffled voice on the other end - Luther. She couldn’t make out what he was saying. “Five? What about him,” Diego muttered, “shit.”

The urgency in his voice piqued Vanya’s attention. “What? What is it?” She leant closer to the receiver and managed to make out Luther’s words.

“Is that Vanya?” He asked.

“Yeah, we got her, she’s safe.”

“Thank god,” he sighed.

“We’ll be there soon, okay big guy? Mom knows her stuff, he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, “just be here, okay?” Diego hung up, and turned to see Vanya looking at him with wide, incredulous eyes.

“It’s Five,” he said, already barging past her. “He’s hurt, b-bad.”

“Shit. What happened?” She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again, despite how strange and distant he’d been since he’d come back.

“I don’t know, Luther didn’t say but I’ll bet it has something to do with this incoming apocalypse.” His movements were rapid, pacing and twitching around on the spot. He was worried. “I’m going to get Allison from the house and we’re going back to the academy. You’re coming too.” There was no arguing with him, she realised. But she was still going to try.

“I’m not just going to leave Leonard here!”

“Harold.” He reminded her, impatient.

“I don’t care! He’s... I...”

“You what.” I love him. She couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Listen, you don’t think he was trying to use you to get close to us? He wants us dead, Vanya, all of us. He doesn’t love you.” She whimpered, and for a moment Diego looked like he might apologise, then his mouth hardened into a line and he clapped her on the shoulder. “Come on, Five needs us.”

…

They caught a taxi up to the house, which Vanya had to pay for. Despite all his conspicuous pockets, Diego only seemed to carry knives. Allison came running out of the house as the taxi pulled up the driveway, and she tackled Vanya with a force almost enough to knock her over as Allison pulled her into a hug.

“Oh Vanya, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Err, thanks Allison. I’m fine, though, you don’t have to –“ she pulled back from her sister’s embrace, giving her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

“We need to get going, now,” Diego muttered, clambering out of the taxi. He gave the driver a dismissive wave, and he started pulling out of the driveway, looking bewildered. “Five’s hurt.”

“What!” Allison cried, over-acting as always. She nodded, composing herself. “Well I’ve found something too,” she pulled a familiar red book out from behind her. “Dad’s journal.”

“What the hell was it doing here?” Vanya asked, but she already knew. Just another nail in the coffin. Leonard had been using her, and the one thing in her life she thought was her own, had really been about the umbrella academy. It was always about the umbrella academy.

“So he was reading up on us, getting to know our weaknesses.” He glared at Vanya, “between this and your autobiography he’d have quite the arsenal.”

Allison shot him a dangerous look. “We can work all this out in the car, we need to get back to the academy.’

As the other two moved towards the vehicle, Vanya remembered something. “Wait,” she called, “I need my violin.”

“Already in the trunk,” Allison smiled, “let’s go.”

…

Vanya sat in the backseat on the ride back to the city, during which Diego and Allison were uncharacteristically quiet. She poured over the pages of her father’s journal, that elongated, scrawled hand of his. He was always scribbling in this book, writing down times during her sibling’s exercises, taking measurements, scrawling notes about observations from his latest experiments. She wasn’t featured on many of the pages, which was to be expected, of course, but at the beginning of the book, the notes that were taken early in her childhood, many of her father’s entries were entitled ‘Number 7.’

June 5th, 1990

Number 7 may be responsible for some low-level phenomena. Minute changes in temperature and malfunctioning electrical appliances. Strong aversion to noisy environments. She is the first of the subjects to show any promise.

Ever since she was a child, and she’d been the most “promising” of them all.

July 23rd, 1992

Incredible, simply incredible! Number 7 continues to show heightened brain function and response to audio stimulus. Her potential is unmatched by that of the other subjects –

She kept on flicking through, not knowing how to feel. All her life, she’d been lied to. Was she really that dangerous?

October 2nd, 1993

Number 7 continues to excel in her training, though her childish temperament is less than ideal. She is beginning to understand and hone her powers, using them for her personal gain. It is only natural, but if I cannot contain her, she may prove… problematic.

October 4th, 1994

That’s the third one dead this week. The hiring agency is beginning to ask questions, and I fear that it’s only a matter of time before the girl turns on me as well. She has little interest in my guidance, and the child is unruly, distant, even among her siblings.

She was a killer, ever since she was four years old… she shuddered to think of what she was capable of now. She’d only been off her medication for a few days, and already she felt this power deeply-rooted inside her, laying dormant all these years. It was hungry.

January 12th, 1995

I have constructed a chamber that renders Number 7 powerless. The environment causes the girl much discomfort. The disconnect from her abilities makes her agitated and sickly. Her power is too great for me to contain. I have been developing a counter measure, a medication that should help to level her head – thought it will have side-effects.

She’d been living with those effects as long as she could remember. That feeling like the world was moving too fast, the numbness in her brain, the exhaustion, the quiet misery she never quite understood… it was because a part of her was missing.

September 7th, 1995

Number 7 has been sedated these past few months, and so far has shown no sign of her usual abilities. She is far quieter now, subdued. It may become necessary to increase her dosage as she develops. I must keep the girl, though she will likely be of no further use to me. I must be watchful of her, in the hands of others her power could be let loose, and the results could be… cataclysmic.

The passage was circled in red marker. Leonard.

October 1st, 1999

Without her powers, Number 7 has no discernable talents. Some enthusiasm for music, but mediocre skill – can barely even hobble through a Paganini caprice. Utterly useless.

And that was it, the final entry, after four years of silence. Vanya felt tears sting her eyes. She hadn’t noticed it as she’d been reading, but the sky outside had turned from sunny blue to grey. Rain was trickling down, spotting the windows with clear droplets, as did the tears on her cheeks. Leonard, Harold – she reminded herself – had planned to use her like some sort of weapon, and she’d fallen for it. Who knows what would have happened if Diego hadn’t found her when he did, before Harold had a chance to whisk her away again. She had to talk to Five, he’d know what to do, he always did.

…

1 day, 16 hours

“Five, oh god, Five!” She yelled, seeing him laying there, it kicked her mind into high-gear.  He looked so small on the surgical bed, flesh blue and swollen. Grace stood beside him, a crisp apron strung around her waist, and a tray of intricate metal tools balanced on one of her arms.

She smiled, despite the situation. “Hello there, Vanya, so lovely to see you.”

“Is he gonna be okay?” She stood over him, trying to see whether his chest was rising and falling, if only gently.

“He’ll make it,” Grace said, suddenly sombre.

“Oh thank god.” She whispered, sitting down in a plastic chair beside the bed, head in her hands. Luther was standing awkwardly in the corner of the room, head down. Allison stepped over to stand behind Vanya and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Who the hell did this to him?” Diego asked, “those psychopaths that attacked the house?”

“I, err,” Luther muttered, shuffling from foot to foot. “Five said that it was… Klaus.”

“Excuse me?” Allison said, glaring over at him.

“I’m not sure if that’s what he meant, but just before he collapsed at the doorstep, I asked him who did this to him and he said it was Klaus.”

“How the hell did Klaus do this? He can’t even walk in a straight line, and his arms are like noodles!”

“Yes Diego,” Allison sighed, “we know you work out.”

“All I’m saying is, maybe he got attacked on the way there, or maybe it was a trap.”

“He went to talk to Klaus, who was already pissed with him, and for good reason too. It makes sense.”

Diego scoffed, “It doesn’t make any sense,” he hissed, “Klaus wouldn’t do this.”

“Grace says he should be awake soon, we can ask him then.” Luther said, trying to keep everyone calm. Grace perked up at the sound of her name, looking between them with that vacant smile.

“You’ve done a great job, Mom,” Diego grinned, his voice soft all of a sudden. “Five would’ve died without your help.” Grace smiled lovingly.

“Can we really believe what he says, I mean, he killed an innocent man, a man that Klaus loved. Should we really be on his side here?” Allison asked. It was something they’d all been trying not to think about; what Five had done. He kept on telling them that he’d changed during his decades alone, that he’d killed countless people, but it was all so easy to ignore when he looked the way that he did, like their kid brother.

“There aren’t any sides here, we’re family, and we’re going to help one another.” Luther said, trying his best to keep the peace.

Vanya wasn’t following the conversation at all, but she was used to that sort of treatment when among her siblings. Out of the loop, never included. She gasped, however, as she saw Five’s eyes flicker open.

“Anyone care what I have to say about this?” He muttered, voice groggy and heavy in his throat.

Vanya seemed to be the only one that was genuinely pleased. Diego only looked relieved for a moment, before he donned his signature scowl. “Not really, no.”

Five rolled his eyes. He tried to sit up but the attempted action made his vision swim before him. He decided against it. “Fair enough,” he grumbled, "did you kill Harold Jenkins?”

“Wait, what!” Vanya interjected, looking at Five in shock.

“Oh,” he smiled, "hi Vanya. So yeah, did you kill him or not?”

Diego looked down at the floor. “No,” he murmured, resembling a kid caught in the act of some trivial transgression.

“Diego!” Allison cried.

“I thought getting here was a little more important, Luther made it sound like Five was dying!”

“I was,” he muttered, "but that’s no excuse, I’ll remind you we’re talking about the fate of the world here.”

"I – I might know something about that, actually.” Vanya said, softly. “I think that I… I have powers.”

The others hesitated for a moment, and Vanya was afraid that they were going to laugh. “Oh, come on,” Diego sighed, putting a hand to his brow. Luther gave her an awkward smile, and Allison gave her shoulder a sympathetic pat.

“Hey, let her finish,” Five snapped. He turned his eyes to her (still being unable to turn his head).

“I was reading Dad’s journal in the car and,” she looked over at Five, unsure of whether to continue. They were all staring, it was difficult to form words. He gave an encouraging, minute nod. “It said that I had powers all along, but they were too dangerous so he… the pills… they’re meant to stop them.”

“You’re serious?” Luther asked.

She nodded, staring down at the floor. “It’s not just that. I’ve been off my meds these past few days and weird stuff has started happening. I feel different, for a start. I got angry at you all and the lamp posts on the street started bending, I think I can control the weather and… last night…”

Diego was looking at her, wide-eyed. “You killed those guys?”

“I – I didn’t mean to,” she stammered. She looked around at the others, hoping she wouldn’t find fear, or disbelief. “they were attacking me and… him.” She couldn’t say his name.

“What kind of power is it anyway, cataclysmic violin playing?” Diego chuckled, trying and failing to lighten the mood.

“I don’t know, like telekinesis or something.” She muttered under her breath, “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Telekinesis.” Luther considered, “of the world ending variety?”

“If it was something that Dad was too scared to deal with,” Five replied, “I’m thinking quite possibly.”

“Shit,” she muttered. “You guys said that Le – Harold,” the name brought a bitter taste to her mouth, “had some sort of murder shine in his house, so I thought… maybe he was trying to, I don’t know, use me or something… to hurt you. He was always more invested in developing my powers than I was, and he knew things about them that… I should have noticed. God, I’m so stupid.”

“It’s okay, Vanya,” Allison said, kindly. Vanya didn’t like to admit it, but sometimes she liked it when Allison played the role of big sister.

“How dangerous are these powers exactly, are you on the pills now?” Luther asked, suddenly stepping forwards from the shadows.

“No.” She admitted, wringing her hands, agitated. Taking them again would feel like failure to her, it would be like letting her father win.

“Should you be?”

“No,” she insisted, a little more forcefully than she’d intended. “I can control it, I can, I just…”

“It’s okay Vanya, I know this must be scary for you.” Five murmured. Vanya smiled gratefully. “And, if this is true, then it could mean that Harold Jenkins can no longer cause the apocalypse.”

“What, really?” Luther said, puzzled.

“I don’t know, but the way I see it, without Vanya, he won’t be able to do anything.”

She hadn’t wanted to believe it, that she was capable of something like that, the apocalypse.“So you really think that I was going to–“

“I don’t know. And, if you were, then I know you would never have done it on purpose, okay?” Said Five. She could tell that he was in pain. His eyes were watering with the strain of it all. “Just stay here, you’ll be safer with me if he decides to come after you.”

“Okay,” she nodded.

“What do you want us to do, Five?” Luther asked. He didn’t seem comfortable with it, asking for leadership.

“Frankly, Luther, I don’t care,” he quipped. “Wait, no,” he reconsidered, “keep tabs on this Harold Jenkins guy, tell this police about his false identity if they haven’t caught up with him in the hospital already.”

“What about Klaus?” Diego asked. “Was he really the one that did this to you?”

Five closed his eyes, “he was.” There was a murmur of discordance from around the room.

“Wait, wait, we’re talking about our brother Klaus, right?” Vanya murmured, though she knew she wasn’t going to get answers for a while yet.

“He’s dangerous, believe me. His powers are stronger now.”

“So, he can see… more dead people?” Allison offered, just as confused as the rest of them.

“No, he can manifest dead people, physically. Actually they’re the ones that did this.” He gestured vaguely to his beaten body. One of his arms was strapped in a splint, and his eyes were barely visible beyond the swollen, blackened flesh surrounding.

“So he summoned a bunch of dead people to beat the shit out of you, damn. Good for him.”

“Diego!” Allison cried.

“What, he deserved it,” Five nodded solemnly to Diego’s assertion, “it doesn’t make things even, but maybe Klaus will feel better about coming back to the academy now that he’s taken Five down a notch,” he glanced over Five lying helplessly on the bed, “or ten.”

“It’s more than that though, he didn’t seem fully in control. It was scary, he was levitating off the ground, his eyes went all blue, the air felt like it was going to suffocate me, and I heard things… he needs our help but I’m worried that he’s becoming too dangerous. We need more information before we can confront him again.”

“I’ve got Dad’s journal,” Vanya offered, “there’s bound to be something in there.”

“I’ll find Pogo, he’ll be able to help,” Luther added. Vanya wondered if Pogo knew about her powers too. She was willing to bet that he did, it cast all that comfort he gave her, as a child and just a few days ago during the funeral, in a darker light. What did he have to say for himself?

One by one, they shuffled out, leaving Five and Vanya alone.

“Do you think Klaus is scared, by his power I mean. It’s terrifying, finding out you can do something like that, hurting people… even though you don’t mean to.”

“I’m sorry Vanya, and I’m sorry for Klaus too. Let’s be honest, Dad probably messed you two up most of all, except maybe for Ben, but, well…”

“Have a read,” she stood up beside him and adjusted the bed so he was sitting up. She handed him the open book. “Everything we need to know’s in here.” He nodded gratefully, and began to skim over the notes.

Vanya sighed and moved over to the cabinets lining the walls. Harold may have gotten rid of her own supply of medication, but she knew her father must have kept some lying around. Sure enough, she found a row of dusty jars at the back of the cabinet. She unscrewed the lid, already feeling ashamed that she couldn’t do this on her own, couldn’t control the power that was building inside of her. It was too much, seeing Five injured, reading her father’s words, and Klaus… One, two, three. She had to feel numb to this, otherwise she thought her heart might explode right out of her chest. Is this how Klaus felt, that dependency, amplified a thousand times over? She wondered what he was feeling right now. Was it guilt, or fear? Or was he past that entirely, twisted into some other person by the power lying dormant within. That’s what Vanya feared most as she downed the pills, losing herself, destroying the people she loved – just like Klaus.

...

Notes: Sorry for the lack of Klaus in this Klaus fic. I felt it was important to compare the perspectives of Klaus and Vanya while also getting Vanya and her power trip out of the way so that Klaus can step forwards and wreck their shit :))