𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 ~ 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀

~ Chapter Forty Six ~

Klaus stayed true to his word that night. As nightfall passed over Dallas and Dusk continued to sleep peacefully, he stared intensely at Ben, who sat on some of the cushions with a grin. Soon the sun rose, and Klaus was still wide awake as ever. "You know, I hate to disappoint you, Benny boy, but you are not getting in this body," he smirked, pleased with how long he had stayed up, though he had been used to doing this.

"Well, your gonna have to fall asleep eventually," Ben replied, blowing a kiss in his direction. Klaus rolled his eyes into the back of his head before looking back at Ben, his gaze slightly shifting to Dusk for a moment, watching her move to her other side as pieces of her black hair fell onto the pillow. "This is nothing. Once in Rio, I spent eight straight days up," he bragged. "Without chemical substances?" Ben inquired.  "Look, the point is, I'm not gonna let you win,"

Slowly, Klaus began to feel himself doze off, his eyes opening and closing repeatedly. The reminder of him needing to stay awake made him open his eyes and look back at his brother, a little shocked to see that he had moved a bit closer to him." I hate your face," Klaus ground his teeth together in frustration. "I hate all of you," Ben bit back in response. The need to doze off came back, this time a little bit stronger and the same thing happened again.

"Shh shh shh, it's okay. Just fall asleep," Ben whispered. Klaus's head flung up, and Ben was now merely a foot away from the junkie. A loud gasp erupted from his lungs, and Klaus jumped slightly in his seat, spilling his cup of tea all over his shirt. This noise woke Dusk from her slumber, and she looked over at him with concern as he muttered nonsense. "You alright?" She yawned. Klaus's eyes widened as he stumbled over his words, trying to make an elaborate lie.

"U-U-Um, That st-stupid clock scared the shit out of me, and I spilled my tea," he finally managed to get out. "Okay," Dusk said, feeling confused and suspicious about what was going on. He couldn't tell her the truth. There was no way Dusk would believe that he was talking to Ben's ghost. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the raven walk out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"What the hell Ben? Now you made me look like a blithering idiot!" Klaus whined. "Hey, don't put the finger of blame on me. That was all you," Ben stated. "I'm going through a lot right now!" Ben was tired of hearing Klaus's excuses. He repeatedly kept making excuses to justify his actions, and everybody close to him had known it since he was a teenager. "You're always going through a lot," Ben rolled his eyes in tiredness.

"The love of my life is going to die, and I can't stop it. I've tried everything in the Time Traveler's handbook, and nothing is working!" "All you have succeeded in is confusing and freaking him out," Ben replied bluntly. Klaus buried his face in his hands muttering incoherently and feeling helpless. "Klaus, the way you're feeling right now is how I feel every day. All I do is watch you make the same mistakes over and over again. Welcome to powerlessness," The sixth Hargreeves admitted for the first time.

Klaus never thought that Ben felt this way during his struggles with addiction. Part of him began to feel guilty and even a bit remorseful. "Wow, that must suck. I'm sorry..." he trailed off, staring at the ground. The room was full of silence for a brief second, so silent for that second that it was almost deafening. "You wanna make it up to me?" Ben asked. "No, absolutely not! You cannot possess me!"

"Oh, come on! It'll be just for a few minutes!" Ben begged. The fourth Hargreeves then threw his hands up in the air, wondering why the hell Ben wanted to possess him. "Well... I-I it's because I-" Ben choked on his words, trying to get the right message out. "Benny, come on! Why is this so important?"

"JILL! Okay? I just want to talk to her. I don't know about you since you're not dead yet. But not being able to talk to anyone else gets kinda boring," Ben explained, finally letting the words flow out. Klaus was confused once again, but this time tried to remember who Jill was. "Oh... Is Jill the... Moroccan girl with a limp?" Klaus furrowed his brow. "Seriously? We talked about this yesterday," Ben sighed, having a hunch that his brother was going to forget the details of his crush.

Klaus took a deep breath, meeting Ben's pleading eyes once again. And with two words, he caved into his brother's request. "Alright, fine," Ben clapped his hands like a happy child, and just as he was about to enter Klaus's body, his brother put both hands on his chest, stopping him. "We need to talk about ground rules first,"

~~~~~~~

The moment Dusk woke from her slumber, she forgot she fell asleep inside Klaus's mansion. But she didn't panic or rush out, hoping to get home. Instead, she felt relaxed, as if being near Klaus was like an escape from reality. The chime of the nearby clock rang, and she heard the noise of Klaus's loud gasp. "Are you alright?" She asked as she yawned and wiped the tired out of her eyes.

He stumbled over his words, making the raven a little confused. "Okay," Dusk said after her crush finally managed to get the words out of his mouth. She walked out of the room and immediately dashed over to the kitchen to make herself some more herbal tea. And like the previous night, Keechie watched Dusk as she moved around the room, waiting for the pot to boil.

He seemed not to get the hint that he wasn't going to go anywhere with the raven, but he still felt the urge to get a closer inspection of her. He carefully and quietly tiptoed into the kitchen. But Dusk was not naïve. She had a hunch that there was still someone watching her. "I meant what I said. So, unless you want to be coughing up blood the rest of the day, I advise you leave," Dusk said, continuing to stare down at the pot, surprising Keechie.

He dashed out of the room, hiding behind one of the pillars of the large sitting room. Number Eight couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she scared the pervert away. Her threatening words usually had their way with people, and yet again, she succeeded. As she grabbed a glass teacup from the cupboard, she caught a faint glimpse of Klaus walking towards the gardens in the backyard.

However, she thought nothing of it and continued to make her tea. With Doomsday quickly approaching, she decided today would be the day she would tell Klaus her true feelings for him. But little did she know of the conversation Klaus had with their dead brother, regarding his possession request.