||Leadership by deception isn't leadership. It's fraud - DaShanne Stokes||
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Klaus woke up the next morning to an empty bed, his arms wrapped around himself as he noticed the lack of his wife.
Willow had woken up hours ago, and now she sat on the bathroom floor, leaning against the bathtub, with her knees pulled to her chest.
"Lola, what are you doing in here?" Klaus asked as he walked into the room, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"I just didn't feel good" Willow replied.
"You look really pale" he commented as he kneeled down to her level, putting a hand on her cheek, feeling her lean into his touch.
"I'm okay" she assured.
"You should go back to bed and get some rest" Klaus advised.
"Babe, the world is ending in five days. I don't think we have time for that" Willow commented.
"At least come back here and sit down, you can't sit on the bathroom floor all day" Klaus said, offering her his hand to help her stand up.
•••
"This is a mistake" Ben commented from where he sat, which was next to Willow. He glowed in a blue light as he judged all of Klaus's life decisions.
"You're a mistake" Willow shot back.
"Don't mess with my flow" Klaus called out from the other side of the room as he did his morning yoga, something had learned during his time in India.
"You can't just go out there and tell them the world is gonna end" Ben told him, pointing towards the door. "You know what can happen to cults when things go sideways"
"It's not a cult!" Klaus defended.
"Babe, it is a cult. But just make sure there's no Kool-Aid in the house" Willow commented.
"What are you gonna say? 'Prepare to die? They deserve a better explanation, Klaus" Ben told him.
"Better than the truth? Listen, this whole thing started by accident. And it was fun helping people for a whole but" Klaus said before Ben interrupted him.
"This whole thing started because you're a narcissist" Ben commented. "There isn't an altruistic bone in your body"
"If the world's gonna end, Ben, these people should go back to their families" Klaus replied.
"Most of them don't have families to go back to" Ben told him. "Jill gave up an Albright scholarship to Berkeley to follow you around the world. Her parents won't even talk to her"
"And how would you know that, Benjamin?" Willow asked with a smile, knowing all about Ben's feelings for Jill.
"Jill? Oh that's the um...the Dutch girl with the lazy eye, right?" Klaus asked, scratching the side of his face as he thought.
