𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 ~ 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀

~ Chapter Sixteen ~

"Klaus, where are you?" Dusk called as she walked up the street, reaching the front doors of the Academy. She continued calling out his name as she made her way towards his room, expecting the smell of alcohol and weed to fill the halls. But when she peered inside, he still wasn't there. "Hey, Alli? You still here?" Dusk asked, looking in the direction of her sister's room. "Yeah, what is it?" Allison responded, poking her head out. "Have you seen Klaus at all? I still can't find him,"

"Ooh, concerned for your boyfriend's safety?" Allison teased, making Dusk's cheeks turn bright pink. "He's not my boyfriend! We only kissed once when we were kids," Dusk growled. "Not according to what you said yesterday," Allison continued to tease. "I meant what I said, Allison," Dusk said, her flames coming into view. Allison quickly ran back into her room and locked the door, making the raven chuckle to herself as the fires waned once more. But her face fell when she looked back at Klaus' empty room, just waiting for him to come home.

I feel bad that nobody else in the Academy cares about him the way I do. No wonder he takes those drugs. He's not only escaping ghosts. He's trying to escape the loneliness. She thought to herself as she went to her room and tried to sleep.

~~~~~~~~

That next morning, Klaus reappeared on the bus, still clutching the briefcase in his bloodied hands. But he was wearing a dark green army shirt, and ashes and tears had stained his face. He tried to hold back his sadness from everyone on the bus. But eventually, he let it out, sobbing into the leather case. Once the bus came to a stop, he got off and slammed the briefcase onto the pavement, harder and harder until it finally burst into flames, making him jump back. He walked the rest of the way to the Academy and went upstairs, trying not to wake anybody up.

That whole night, Dusk could not sleep. The unease she felt in her stomach shifted, and it felt like she was dying inside. She sat up in her bed, almost immediately hearing the sounds of crying. Is that Klaus? She quietly opened the door and walked down the hall towards his room. She poked her head inside, and to her surprise, he was back. "Klaus! Oh my god, I was so worried about you!" Dusk smiled, rushing towards him. "Hey, songbird..." He muttered, patting her back as she embraced him tightly.

She looked up to see the tears in his eyes, and her heart sank inside her, having never seen him so sad. "What's wrong?" She asked, bringing a soft hand to his face. "It's nothing. It's just been a long night," Klaus answered, lying on his back. The raven had a hunch that he was lying to her. She had known him for so many years and had developed an inner lie detector. "Klaus, I've known you for so many years. You know you can tell me anything," She comforted, softly rubbing her thumb and pointer finger on his knuckles.

He looked up to meet her eyes, finding some comfort in them. He knew that he could talk to her about anything. But he felt that if he told her what he went through, she would be confused and tell him he was imagining things. "I don't want to talk about it," he said, standing up and walking towards the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

~~~~~~~

Klaus let out a shaking breath as the flashbacks from Vietnam came back to haunt him. He started the bathtub and got into the lukewarm water, hoping that it would help take his mind off it. But it only made things worse. The longer he stayed in the tub, the more he heard the sounds of bombs going off and helicopters flying above his head. "Dave!" His voice echoed inside of his mind. Suddenly the water began vibrating like mad as the voice in his head continued calling out the name of the mysterious man.

The lights soon started flickering, and Klaus let out a gasp as he shot up from the tub, lurching forward as he tried to calm himself down. "Klaus, are you alright in there?" Dusk asked, knocking softly at the door. "Y-yeah, everything's fine. I just slipped!" Klaus called back to her. "Do you need my help?" She asked. Yes, I do. "No, I'm alright," He answered before sliding his head back into the water and continuing with his bath.

Later on, as he was getting changed, Five walked into the hall, staring at the water trail that Klaus had left behind. "You okay?" He asked, walking into Klaus' room. Is everyone going to keep asking me if I'm okay today? I'm not! "Yeah, it's just been a long night," Klaus lied as he struggled to pull his leather pants up. "More than one from the looks of it. You did it, didn't you?"

Klaus looked up at his brother confused. "You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus. The jet lag, full body itch, headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain. You going to tell me about it?" Five pressed on. Klaus knew that he was not going to get Five off of his ass, so he finally caved in and told him about what happened the night the Academy was attacked.

"Your pals, when they broke into the house, and they couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead," he started. "And in turn, you stole their briefcase?" Five assumed. The junkie nodded, explaining how he thought that there was some money or anything he could use to pawn it off. Before he could say where he went, he trailed off at the horrible memories. "How long were you gone?" Five inquired. "A year," he answered. "A year? Do you know what this means?" Five gaped, leaning in close as if he was whispering in church.

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now," Klaus chuckled softly. "No, this isn't a joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?" "It's gone. I destroyed it," Five held back a sigh of frustration, trying not to lash out too much at his brother. "What the hell were you thinking?" He growled, gritting his teeth. "Why do you care?" Klaus asked.

"I needed it, you moron! So I could get back, and I could start over-" Before Five could finish his sentence, Klaus stood up and walked out of the room, not wanting to listen to another word his delusional brother was saying.