Chapter Four: Run Boy Run

17 YEARS AGO

AS USUAL, GRACE PREPARED LUNCH LIKE SHE did every other normal afternoon for the eight children in the large home and their father. She placed nine plates of hot food at the long mahogany table and moved over to the record player in the back of the room. She placed a familiar record onto it and moved the needle into place. "During extreme weather conditions, a climber must possess the wisdom to determine," the recording started as Grace picked up a small bell. Her blue and white dress swayed back and forth as she raised a delicate hand and rang the bell, "when evacuation is inevitable."

There was a sudden rush of wind that caused the androids hair to move wildly. "Jemma," Grace scolded lightly as she fixed her hair back into its neat bun. "You know not to use your superspeed unless it's for training."

The blonde who had suddenly smiled sheepishly and bowed her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, mom."

Grace only smiled at the girl in fondness, "it's all right, dear. Now, go wait for the others," she gestured to the table decorated with plates of warm food. Jemma smiled brightly, walked over to the table and stood behind one of the seats to wait patiently.

More footsteps emanated from the staircase as the rest of the family came bounding down for lunch. The children all walked in first and stood behind a seat just like Jemma had. Vanya stood at one end of the table with the rest of the children occupying the seats on the side as the chair opposite her was left vacant for a moment. Diego stood on the left side of the table between Five, who was closest to Vanya, and Luther on either side of him. Allison stood across from Luther with Klaus next to her then Ben and then Jemma. Each child waited a moment longer for their father to finally arrive for mealtime.

Reginald Hargreeves finally came down after his adopted children and stood behind the last chair that was at the head of the table. "Sit," he gestured to the chairs and allowed the children to sit.

Everyone at the table dug into their food for the day in silence. All the while, Luther and Allison kept stealing glances at each other, Diego was carving into the arm of his chair, Klaus was rolling a joint, Jemma was sharing small smiles with Ben as they read a book together and Vanya ate her lunch with eyes downcasted. Everyone seemed to be content with the current situation. Meals were always meant to be in complete silence. It seemed ridiculous, however, no one would argue with their father about his rules. So they all had to just be content with those rules and follow them lest they had to deal with their father's scolding. Though one of the children seemed to be less than happy during the meal.

Number Five hadn't even touched his food let alone started eating. His jaw was clenched as he stared at Reginald at the head of the table with a glare while holding his knife with a tight grip. The tension that had been building up in him had finally snapped when he suddenly broke through the silence as he stabbed his knife into the table. Everyone's heads turned to him as they became startled.

"Number Five?" Reginald asked.

"I have a question," Five stated firmly.

Reginald turned back to his food, "Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules. No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson."

Five pushed away his plate harshly in defiance, "I want to time travel."

"No."

"But I'm ready," The young boy stood up from his seat harshly, "I've been practicing my spacial jumps, just like you said." He demonstrated that but concentrating and using his powers to jump from his place to a spot right next to his adopted father at the head of the table. "See!"

"A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel." The old man said as he didn't bat an eye at the boy and continued to eat his food. "One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn."

Five dug his hands in his pocket and pondered that statement with a sarcastic, tight-lipped smile, "well, I don't get it."

"Hence the reason you're not ready."

The other children tried to keep themselves from intervening in the conversation. Their father was obviously growing annoyed with Five's blatant breaking of his rule and adding to that would only make matters worse. They shared glances with each other every once and a while as they continued to stuff their mouths in order to stay quiet. Vanya was the only one who tried to gain Five's attention slightly by shaking her head when he looked up in her direction. An obvious warning to making anything worse.

Five clenched his jaw in frustration, "I'm not afraid."

"Fear isn't the issue," Reginald stated, "the effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable." He threw down his silverware in obvious vexation, "now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore." He picked up his utensils again which signaled the end of the conversation and for Five to go back to his seat. Though it wasn't like Five was actually going to do that! The boy scrunched his face for a moment before spinning on his heels and walking out of the dining area. "Number Five! You haven't been excused. Come back here!"

Everyone turned to watch him storm out into the fore as they all heard the front door open and close harshly. Five was going to do something drastic, all of his siblings knew that. He was a boy who thought that he knew everything and anything when it came to life. He was a smart boy, yes. But he was also rash and acted impulsively on certain things, and completely arrogant. There was honestly no telling what he was going to do.

Jemma gnawed on her bottom lip as the book she and Ben had been sharing was now abandoned on the table as the both of them had spun in their seat to see where their brother was going. She turned her timid eyes to their father whose face had grown considerably red in anger and agitation. She started to grow slightly anxious as the milliseconds ticked by. Five had such a knack for infuriating their father which obviously caused quite a few arguments to break out.

"Number Eight," Jemma jumped at her father's sharp voice as she allowed her wide eyes to focus on the old man.

Her voice was timid and uncertain, "y-yes, father?"

"Go after Number Five and bring him back here now!"

She nodded her head hastily at his demand as she knew that Reginald wanted her to use her superspeed to make sure that Five didn't get too far away from the Academy. With that, she suddenly disappeared from the table in a gust of wind as she used her speed to exit the building. She ran out of the front door and stood on the sidewalk to look around. The world was in slow motion as she looked around to search for the black-haired thirteen-year-old. She just caught a glimpse of the back of his blue blazer only a short way away from her. She smiled now seeing that he hadn't gotten too far from her. She would have to convince him to come back inside and stop his rash decision before it gets to be too much and they're all punished for his defiance. Though it quickly disappeared when she saw the blue haze surrounding his body before he disappeared from her sight.

Her blue eyes were blown wide open as panic started to settle in her stomach. He was gone. Five was gone! He had spacial jumped somewhere else. Though he couldn't have gone far, right? Number Five was quite skilled with his ability, however, she knew that he couldn't spacial jump too far away from his previous spot. He had to be somewhere close.

With that in mind, she ran around the area in search of her brother. The wind kicked back and forth on the small street. Bystanders shivered at the wind blowing all around them and hung onto their hats to make sure that they wouldn't fall off with the harsh gusts. Unknown to them, the wind was caused by a frantic speedster who was desperately trying to look for her brother.

After a few moments for her and only half for her family, Jemma appeared back in the dining area with her family. They all stared at the small girl as she bowed her head and stood in front of their father who was still fuming over Five's sudden outburst.

"Where is he?" He stared down his nose and from behind his monocle at the blonde who didn't dare look up at him.

Jemma fidgeted with her polished shoes on the floor, "h-he was outside... but..." The other children sat on the edge of their seats waiting for her to say something.

Reginald grew frustrated with her reluctance to speak, "speak, Number Eight!"

The girl jumped and sniffed as her eyes slightly watered, "he was gone. He spacial jumped before I could get to him and I looked around... I couldn't find him."

The room was silent and still. Everyone was mulling over her statement and trying to grasp the fact that Five had seemingly run away. Reginald looked to be completely furious with that revelation. However, he stayed silent. That was never good. The adopted children watched as Reginald stood from his chair loudly and stomped out of the room, no doubt to go into his study. The other children knew not to bother their father for the rest of the day now and probably for the rest of the week.

As the children watched him walk off, Five was stuck in the future. Seventeen years to be exact. He sat on his knees in desperation as he called out the names of his family through the rubble of his dismantled home that was now decorated in flames and ash. The young boy was powerless as he was unable to use his ability to undo his grave mistake. He had time traveled to the end of mankind, the apocalypse.

---

"I survived on scraps," Five told Vanya as he held a cup of coffee in his hands. The two of them sat in her living room as the sun finally disappeared behind the city skyline. "Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find." He chuckled, "you know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it's total bullshit."

"I can't even imagine," Vanya said softly.

Five shook his head as he reminisced in the first few years he arrived in the future. "You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die. So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."

"We?" Vanya asked with furrowed eyebrows. He had mentioned a 'Delores' back at the house. She could only suspect that she was the other person who he was referring to.

Five disregarded the question and instead held up his now empty cup, "you got anything stronger?" His ordinary sister nodded her head as she stood up from her couch and walked over to her small kitchen. She pulled out a glass of liquor and poured it into a cup to give to Five. With Five nursing said cup and gulping down the burning yet satisfying liquid, Vanya watched her once missing brother in disbelief. Five looked up and scoffed at her look, "you think I'm crazy."

"No." Vanya denied with a deep breath, "It's just it's a lot to take in."

"Exactly what don't you understand?"

"Why didn't you just time travel back?"

Five huffed as he was slowly growing agitated with Vanya's inability to understand the situation. "Gee, wish I'd thought of that." He snapped, "time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"

Vanya pondered his words as so many questions popped up in her mind, "if you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?"

"I told you already." Five stressed as he moved to pour himself more alcohol. "I must have got the equations wrong."

The ordinary woman licked her lips, "I mean, Dad always used to say that... time travel could mess up your mind. Well, maybe that's what's happening?" She said hopefully.

It appeared that Fie mulled over her words only for a moment before shaking his head with a scoff. "This was a mistake." He made a move to walk around her and towards the front door, "you're too young - too naive to understand."

"No. Five, Five, wait," Vanya said desperately. She couldn't let him walk out and disappear once again as he did so long ago. She couldn't stop him then, perhaps she could stop him now. "I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all." Five tensed up at that and didn't move. "And you know what, it's getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too." She moved over to the couch and made up the couch for him to sleep on, "here. We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I ."

Five stuffed his hands in his pocket as Vanya moved to her own bedroom. He sighed inwardly, "night."

Vanya entered her bedroom and closed the door where she leaned her back against it to collect herself. The day had certainly been quite eventful. She walked over to her bed to start getting ready where she grabbed her pill bottle and took a dose as she started to grow anxious.

In the living space, Five sat on the couch and held a brown cloth in his hands. He opened it up to reveal a prosthetic, glass eye that he had had with him for a very long time. The iris was brown and on the back were the words 'Meritech' with a serial number under it. He battled internally with himself for a long moment before making a firm decision. He quickly stood up and opened the door to the apartment as quietly as he could to not alert Vanya of his departure. His mission was far more important than finishing up his reunion with one of his siblings. Yes, it would be nice to do so, however, there were far more pressing matters.

---

Night rolled around really quickly and the sky became pitch black. There was no twinkling stars insight in the vast abyss of space for tonight. Neon lights illuminated off of the slightly damp ground of a motel parking lot that seemed vacant. A city taxi came rolling up to the main office of the motel.

The door slid open and a man with a large build climbed out of the taxi. He held a black briefcase in his hand and wore a dark blue suit and tie with a scruffy beard. Next, a woman climbed out of the car behind him wearing the same exact thing as him. She was African- American with chocolate hair that reached just before her shoulders and a harsh gaze that could scare anyone. The two of them walked into the office of the dingy motel to check into the room that had been booked for them.

"Reservation for Hazel and Cha-Cha." The woman, Cha-Cha, said to the worker who sat behind the counter with his feet up.

The man stared at them weirdly for a moment before getting up and looking for their room key. All the while he kept stealing glances at the pair in front of him. "Here you go." The receptionist said as he placed a room key on the counter, "room 225."

The two stared at the key for a moment before Cha-Cha spoke the question both thought. "What about the other room?"

"Uh, Only one room was booked."

Hazel and Cha-Cha both hissed at that, "Dammit." Hazel huffed, "I'm sick of this cost-cutting bullshit."

Cha-Cha sighed, "just tell me there's two beds."

"Yes, ma'am." The receptionist confirmed, "real firm. Now, how long do you think you'll be staying with us?"

"Just the one night." Cha-Cha shook her head, "I believe there's a package waiting for us."

The worker nodded his head and turned to pick up the large, rectangular cardboard box that had been left for them when the reservation had been made. He set it on the table where Cha-Cha picked it up and headed out of the door with Hazel following her. "Okay. Have a good night."

The pair entered their motel room that was on the second floor and cringed at it. It certainly was not the best place to be staying. Cha-Cha got to business by opening the box and sorting through the various weapons and tech that was in it. Hazel opted to take a look around the room and was certainly unhappy with the arrangements. "Go ahead." Cha-Cha sighed out as she could feel the frustration radiating off of her partner. "Just say it."

"What?"

"No point keeping it bottled up, or it'll just give you heartburn, and I gotta listen to you complain about that, too."

Hazel sighed loudly and walked over to the bed he assigned his own as he started to complain. "It smells like cat piss. First they cut our per diem, and then our dental, and now we don't even get our own rooms. Where does it end?"

"When we retire or die." Cha-Cha cocked the gun in her hand expertly, "whatever comes first. But at least we're not stuck in some cubicle."

"Damn wrist is killing me." Hazel muttered as he picked up the heavy case, "couldn't have made this into a backpack or something?"

Cha-Cha turned around to see her partner bending down towards an air vent in the corner of the room. She gaped at him, "what are you doing?"

He unscrewed the vent screws and opened it up. Hazel placed the large case into the vent as he thought that it was the safest place for it. "It's not like we're gonna use it while we're doing the job, anyway."

Cha-Cha continued on with, "it's against protocol. We gotta have it with us at all times."

Hazel scoffed and stood up once he finished, "a rule written by a bureaucrat who never had to carry one. They can shove their protocol up their asses. Let them try lugging around the damn thing." He walked over to his bed and grabbed some quarters out of his pocket. He placed the quarters into the massager that was in the bed and flopped down on it once it started to vibrate. He sighed in content at the relaxing feeling that it was bringing him. Work as an assassin certainly was tough!

His partner picked up a photo of a man with gray hair and a matching mustache. "Never been after one of our own before." She stared at the photo of Number Five for a moment, "they say what happened to the first guys?"

"Liquidated," Hazel answered as his voice was distorted due to the vibrations.

Cha-Cha shook her head, "dummy local hires. You get what you pay for." She picked up a rectangular box which was obviously a tracker. She turned it on and it started to let out a soft beeping noise. "Okay, now, where's our guy?"

---

Police sirens, flashing blue and red lights, and detectives consumed the scene that had developed at Griddy's Donuts. There was a gruesome sight in the diner which was the aftermath of Five's fight. He had killed all five of the assassins expertly and efficiently. He made it look like childsplay, which is quite scary.

Officers roamed around every inch of the room looking for clues on how exactly all of their victims had been killed. "This is a once in a blue moon type of situation, I'd say." Detective Eudora Patch, a woman with brown hair, said as she walked around the diner to look at everything. Her keen eyes surveyed everything, just like her partner, Detective Chuck Beaman.

"I'm inclined to agree," Chuck said.

Eudora started to rattle off what they already knew, "same gun on every vic, all in fours. All the casings are .223s. Know what I think? I think these idiots all shot each other."

Chuck chuckled softly at that and pointed out, "and stabbed. One in the throat, one in the eye, and this guy got his neck snapped. All quick and efficient kills."

She nodded her head as they bent down to examine one of the dead men. "These guys were definitely professionals. Dumb, but professionals." They stood up, "any witnesses?"

"Yes." Chuck confirmed and motioned over to the woman in pink who sat in a corner booth. "One. It happened during her shift."

Eudora sighed, "well, that's lousy luck." She approached the older woman carefully. She already knew that the woman had gone through a lot of trauma tonight, she really didn't want to cause any more discomfort for her. But she still needed to get all of the evidence she could. "Ma'am, I'm Detective Patch."

The employee nodded her head, "hi, Agnes. Agnes Rofa. Oh, I don't know, did you want a last name?"

Eudora smiled softly as she took a seat across from the witness, "I'll take it if you'll give it. Did you see what happened here?"

Agnes shook her head, "No, not exactly."

"Let's start at the top."

"Well, it was- it was a slow night." Agnes started to retell how her night went, "it was quiet. My last two customers were this older guy and- and his kid. The guy had a dough- No, that's not right. The guy had an éclair, and the kid had- had coffee. I went- I went into the back room um, to just get some more change. But then I heard his truck start up. They drove away. I heard shots. And by the time I got back in here... everyone was- was, you know..." she started to get choked up as she looked around the room at the dead bodies.

"Was there anyone else in the shop?"

"No, I- I don't think so." Eudora nodded, "I'm sorry, not to be rude, 'cause you seem super sweet, but do I have to go through all this again?"

"Again?"

Agnes nodded her head shakily, "well, I already told the other detective everything."

The detective's eyes narrowed, "what other detective?"

Diego busted out of the back door of the diner after interviewing the waitress. Is what he doing technically illegal? Yes. But did he care? No, not really. He wanted to be involved and get all of the information he needed on the crime.

However, that was interrupted when Diego came face to face with a familiar, angry detective. "Shit." Diego swore as he raised a hand to stop the frustrated woman in front of him, "hang on, let me-" he was then tasered by said woman and fell to the ground.

"You don't talk to my witnesses, understand?" Eudora said as she hauled Diego away with handcuffs restricting him.

Diego smirked, "let me catch you up to speed, Eudora."

"Don't call me that!" She growled.

Diego nodded his head sarcastically, "right, Detective Patch. What, are we gonna keep things professional?"

"I don't know if we ever agreed on much." Eudora scoffed at him and his seeming inability to respect authority.

"We agreed on some things."

"Did we really, though?" She pulled out a radio from his coat pocket, "I'm confiscating this."

He sniffed at her, "military surplus, practically giving them away."

She then pulled out a badge from his other coat pocket, "and this."

"No skin, super cheap, bought it on eBay." Diego shrugged at her. I did really matter that she was confiscating his stuff, he could always get new ones.

She then went inside his coat and pulled out his domino mask. She raised an eyebrow at him and threw it back into his coat, "that you can keep."

Diego's lips pursed, "you used to like that."

Eudora huffed, "not anymore."

He continued to speak while she dragged him in the direction of a police cruiser. "By the way, this thing might look like a botched robbery, but my gut's telling me something else is going on here. Look, the waitress, she mentioned that Ishmael's Tow Truck guy." Eudora paused as he spoke and allowed him to turn to her, "maybe they saw something."

"You're not police, Diego," she pointed out to him, "remember?"

"Yeah." Diego bit out, "I know."

Eudora raised a delicate eyebrow at him as he sat in the cruiser, "do you? Because you show up and act like you can be a part of this, and you can't, not anymore."

Diego shook his head and looked up at her from inside the car, "I'm good at this. You know I can help you."

Eudora's jaw clenched slightly in frustration, "I know you give me agita. And I do not need I do not want your help. Okay?" She sighed loudly and banged the top of the car before walking away to finish conducting the investigation. She looked up to the sky, "Lord, you test me."

As she walked past the crowd of curious onlookers to head back inside the diner, she walked past the two assassin's who were looking for the one who killed all of those men. They really didn't expect to run into a problem like this. Not only didn't they find their target but they also couldn't investigate what had happened due to the police. They would just have to spend a little bit more time looking for Number Five.

---

The annoying sound of an alarm clock met Luther's ears as he woke up from his sleep. The clock read '9:18' which meant that he should probably get up. He climbed out of his bed, accidentally hit his head on the airplane hanging from the ceiling and pulled on his large green jacked. He walked out of his room and found himself standing in the hallway of his childhood home. "Shit." He completely forgot that he was even home! A floorboard then creaked behind which brought him out of his mind. He turned around to see Allison packing up her things. He walked over to the door and knocked on it, "Hi."

"Hey." Allison greeted him softly as she continued to pack up her clothes.

Luther chuckled, "You know, it's funny. I've had the same routine for the last four years. Now that I'm back down here, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself."

Allison nodded her head in understanding, "I know the feeling."

Luther hummed and observed her as she worked to put her stuff in her suitcase, "well, you must be eager to see Claire, huh?" He really didn't want to have to say goodbye to her so soon, but she had other obligations to get to. Her daughter certainly was more important than her brother.

Allison smiled slightly, "I didn't think it was possible to miss a person this much." Her smile then slipped off of her face, "but I've got some things I need to do before I can see her. You know, someday I'd really love for you to meet her."

"Me?" Luther's eyebrows furrowed.

She looked up at him with a smile once again, "yeah, you. Why not?"

"Well, does Claire even know about me?"

Allison scoffed at him, "What are you talking about? Of course she knows about you." Like she would not tell her own daughter about her family, especially Luther.

"I know, it's just that," he sighed, "when you left, it seemed like all you wanted to do was forget this place ever existed, so-"

The actress cut him off, "this place, yes. But not you. When Claire was little, I used to read her books about the moon. I'd tell her her uncle was living up there. That he was protecting us from harm."

Luther smiled at that, "really?"

"I mean, you were her own personal superhero. You know, after all this time, I know she would love to meet you."

The idea sounded nice, yes. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of Luther's mind that he couldn't shake. "Uh, Dad's monocle is still missing, so I can't just forget about that."

Allison sighed loudly, "Dad died because his heart gave out, Luther. Don't turn his death into a mission."

He stared at her for a moment as he registered her words, "is that what you think this is?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I think there's a reason why you never left." Luther continued to stare at her with wide eyes that were filled to the brim with disbelief. Allison opened her mouth to say something more but couldn't think of anything. So instead she exited her bedroom. Luther stood there rigidly as Allison walked away. He stared off into space before taking a sip of the pouch that he had in his hand.

Allison was just walking past the staircase that leads upstairs to the other few bedrooms on the upper floor when some footsteps alerted her to someone coming down those stairs. She turned to see her blonde sister walking down the stairs sluggishly. She couldn't tell if Jemma was just tired, hungover, drunk, or maybe a combination of the three.

"Hey, Jem," Allison said as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs to wait for her sister.

Jemma smiled at the curly-haired women, "Ally, hi!" She finally stepped off of the stairs and came to stand in front of Allison who was a few inches taller than her. She let out a long breath, "yesterday was pretty chaotic, right?"

Allison nodded her head in agreement, "that's a bit of an understatement." The two of them laughed with each other slightly. They were then surrounded by an awkward silence, and Jemma was pretty sure why. From the look on Allison's face, she could tell that there was a burning question on Allison's mind.

Jemma cleared her throat awkwardly, "I'm sorry about yesterday, I kind of didn't want you guys to see me like that. I-I, uh, did my best to try and stay sober." She let out a breathy laugh, "honestly, I think that yesterday was the longest that I've gone without a drink."

"...but you were drinking yesterday..." Allison pointed out.

The blonde nodded her head, "Well, yeah, I know. But what I mean is that I spent about four hours completely sober." She stared off into space, "which made me realize exactly why I like to keep myself drunk."

"I never would have pegged you as a drinker," Allison said. It was true! Jemma was one of the most innocent people that Allison has ever known. She never swore, rarely ever talked back, and was so soft-spoken that Allison was certain a mouse would be louder than her. Jemma never touched any sort of drug while they were teens even when Klaus offered her them. Yet now, Allison could tell that she most likely took Klaus up on that offer further down the road, mainly for alcohol, based off of what she saw yesterday.

Jemma grimaced and stared at the floor. She grew timid under her sister's stare and could tell that Allison would most likely judge her for anything she said. "Yeah, neither did I..." She bit her bottom lip anxiously.

Allison took a deep breath, "well, you're sober now, right? Maybe you could try to stay sober all day?" She at least hoped that Jemma would agree to that. She didn't like seeing her like that yesterday. Yeah, Jemma seemed to be an amusing drunk, but even then, Allison didn't like to think that her smaller, innocent sister would do such things. Allison can handle Klaus being a druggie, Vanya's betrayal, Luther's loyalty, and Five's reappearance, but not Jemma's alcoholism. She didn't want the only thing that seemed to be bright in their childhood to be hindered by something like alcohol.

Jemma kept her gaze downward, "to be honest, I was on my way downstairs to make breakfast... and get a drink or two."

Allison shook her head, "Jemma."

"I know, Ally. I just can't handle being here." Allison could tell that Jemma was already starting to tremble slightly, especially when her hands started to shake. The memories of their childhood were just too much for her, it seemed. Allison could understand.

She nodded her head, "I get it, Jemma. But I don't think drinking would really help you."

"You think," Jemma sniffed at her as her eyes turned up to Allison's brown ones and narrowed slightly. "I know it may not be good and that the way that I drink would kill any normal person, but I don't care. I use it to forget, and it gets the job done." Jemma tilted her head which caused her short blonde hair to obscure her bright blue eyes. "Now, if you want, you can come with me for breakfast. Otherwise, I'll be in the kitchen." Jemma stared at Allison for a moment longer before brushing past her on her way to the kitchen. Allison let her go. Obviously, Jemma had changed, and she didn't even know it.

She and Jemma had kept in contact mainly because Jemma didn't want to lose it in the first place. Allison should have been a better sister in that regard. But even when they did speak with each other or see each other, Jemma hid the alcoholic side of her so well! Allison never suspected there was anything remotely wrong with the blonde woman. Though Allison wasn't really looking for anything wrong in her, as Allison always thought that Jemma was so perfect and uncorrupted unlike the rest of them. However, as she watched the blonde disappear down the stairs, Allison could tell that she was just as damaged as the rest of them.

---

"No, no," Klaus whimpers in his sleep as a cluster of voices swarmed around him and called out his name. He was obviously having a nightmare. It was terrible to think that his powers and father were the ones to cause him such vivid and terrible nightmares. He continued to whimper for a few seconds later before he sat up suddenly while panting heavily.

"You know you talk in your sleep?" Ben asked as he glanced up from the familiar book that he was reading. Klaus sat for a minute trying to collect his breath after such a terrible dream before he stumbled off of the couch and towards his clothes that were thrown on the ground carelessly from the night before. That would explain the reason that Klaus had woken up in nothing but a pair of colorful, cheetah print underwear. "There's no point, you're out of drugs." Ben commented as Klaus continued to just look for the drugs that he had bought the other day. After a nightmare like that, he was in desperate need of a high.

"Shut your piehole, Ben." He grumbled before looking up at his dead brother, "said with love." He then blew a kiss at Ben who only rolled his eyes at Klaus' actions. Yet it was nothing new or out of the ordinary for the druggie.

Ben sighed and leaned forward on his knees, "I've got a crazy idea. Why not try starting your day with... a glass of orange juice or some eggs?"

Klaus pulled out a blunt and started to light it as he spoke around it while it was in his mouth, "can't smoke eggs." He slid around the living room and started his search through the many cabinets that held many expensive looking things in them. Ben didn't say anything as he knew that there was nothing that he could say that would stop Klaus. "One of these has gotta be gold-plated, right?" Just as he opened up on of the cabinets doors and started to look through it, someone clears their throat behind him. Klaus jumped and spun around to come face to face with Pogo. "Christ on a cracker! Pogo?"

"My apologies, Master Klaus." The ape didn't seem to be completely apologetic. "I have a query for you."

"Oh?"

"Items from your father's office have gone missing. In particular, an ornate box with pearl inlay."

Ben turned around from his seat on the loveseat and faced Klaus, "Really?"

Klaus ignored him and focused on Pogo, "Really? You don't say."

"Any idea where it went?"

Klaus' mind instantly wandered to the day before after he had taken the exact box that Pogo was looking for out of the house. He had opened up the box and threw out the stuff that was inside of it. He didn't think that it was any value, honestly. It was the box itself that he wanted. Then he went to a pawn shop where he got a nice stack of cash that was used to buy himself a nice bag of good old drugs for him. He then used them and crashed on the couch that night. It was such a good high.

"No, no, no." Klaus lied through his teeth, "no idea. Sorry.

"Liar." Ben scoffed.

Klaus instantly replied with a whisper of; "Drop dead."

Ben turned around amused and not really offended by his words, "low blow."

"Would you shut up!"

"Excuse me?" Pogo, unknowingly, cut in between the brother's bickering as he thought that Klaus was telling him to shut up.

"Pogo, I didn't mean you," Klaus walked around the couch and towards Pogo, "I just, I- You know, there's been a lot of stuff I've been dealing with. Just a lot of memories coming up. All those good times. Well, not so much good times as really awful, terrible, depressing times."

Pogo just stared at him unamused, "the contents of that box are... priceless. Were they to find their way back to the office, whoever took it would be absolved of any blame or consequences."

"Oh, well, lucky bastard." Klaus just took another drag of his blunt to hopefully hide his

Pogo clicked his tongue as he obviously knew that Klaus had something to do with the box's disappearance, "indeed."

"What did Klaus steal this time?" Jemma asked as she came into the living room to stand beside Pogo.

Klaus' eyes widened at her appearance as she was there when he had taken the box. "Nothing, at all. I'm offended that you even think that I would do such a thing."

Jemma pursed her lips before rolling her eyes, "yeah, 'cause it's not like you stole some cash from me to buy yourself some drugs a few weeks ago."

"I thought we both agreed that you forgave me for that!" Klaus asked her scandalously.

The blonde nodded her head, "we did. Still doesn't dismiss the fact that you stole some money, but that doesn't matter." She turned on her heels, "I'm thinking of making breakfast if you want some you guys can come downstairs."

"If you're making waffles, I'll definitely have some!" Jemma nodded her head at him as she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Klaus just couldn't help himself, his sister really knew how to make a mean waffle. They rivaled the ones Mom always made them when they were kids. As he reveled in the idea of eating Jemma's wonderful waffles, he turned around to Ben only to see that his brother had completely abandoned his book. His undivided attention was drawn to Jemma as she walked away. God, the look on his face just about made Klaus want to barf. However, there was also a part of him that felt terrible for him. He couldn't imagine having to sit around and watching the world go by as it doesn't even notice him. Life could be so cruel. Waffles could definitely make it better, however!