Runaway ~ TUA (Book 3)

Chapter 6

Klaus skipped through the doors before he looked around, sighing in disappointment as everyone looked at him.

"Heavens to Betsy. What did you do? Did Viktor go full 'Carrie' again?," Klaus asked, looking at Jayme and Alphonso's bodies. Death was in the air, Taya felt sick, it was a weird smell, it was a scent that was hard to describe, but the scent of melted flesh canceled it out.

"We didn't do this," Allison defended as she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her clueless brother. Gesturing to the older man, that was when Taya realized that that man was actually Harlan. But, old. Not a little kid anymore. He had grown up.

"Who the hell is creepy grandpa?," Klaus questioned as he joined Taya, Allison and Diego.

"That's the kid Viktor saved back in Dallas," Taya answered, staring at Harlan, still somewhat flabbergasted. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, didn't Viktor get rid of Harlan's powers?

"I thought he got rid of the kids' mojo and all that."

"I guess it didn't stick," Allison mumbled.

Taya didn't pay much attention to what the adults were saying as she began to zone out, lost in her train of thought. She hadn't really noticed Sloane was beginning to regain consciousness, but once she saw her siblings bodies she took off up the stairs.

"You've got a live one, Luther!," Diego yelled as he began to chase after Sloane as well as Allison. Taya's eyes darted around, trying to figure out what she should do, but she took off after Allison, hoping she could help Sloane escape.

She managed to catch up with Luther.

"I hate running," the younger girl panted as her uncle called out for Sloane, following her into the communal shower area. Taya slowed to a walk, looking around carefully staying on high alert. She heard someone behind her and she dove behind one of the baths just as Sloane lifted Luther into the air with her powers. The teenager listened to the conversation between the two adults, just then Diego grabbed Sloane and put a knife at her neck. Taya froze slightly, she knew Diego was following them but she didn't expect him to get here that fast.

"Drop him," he threatened before he looked at Luther, "Where's Taya?"

"I'm here," the teenager called, getting up from her hiding space. Sloane reluctantly dropped Luther to the ground, once Diego had made sure he was all right he turned to leave, not letting Sloane go.

"DIego, it's okay. You can let her go now," Luther reassured, Diego gave him a puzzled look as he still didn't let go of Sloane.

"Are you kidding me?," Diego snapped.

"I said let her go. She's hurt," Luther repeated and Taya nodded.

"C'mon, Uncle Diego –," Taya tried but was cut off by Luther while stormed into the room.

"If you hurt her, I will bury you," Luther threatened as Allison stood next to Taya, who seemed incredibly uncomfortable and unhappy with the conflict that was happening.

"You gonna bury me too, Luther?," Allison snapped and Luther looked at her before sparring a glance towards the teenager as he averted his gaze back to Diego and Sloane. Taya hadn't noticed her mom walk in until she had spoken, she slightly shifted away, giving her mom some space.

"Just let me talk to her," Luther pleaded, also just wanting this to be over.

"Trust me. She's gonna talk," Allison replied as she looked at the now terrified Sloane, Taya wasn't sure how she was feeling, that small hint of fear came flooding back into Taya's head. She had never seen her mom like this before.

"Taya, go," Allison said, pulling Taya out of her thoughts which caused her to slightly jump, she looked at her mom and then at her two uncles before her eyes landed on Sloane. The teenager gave her a sympathetic look before mouthing 'I'm so sorry' to her before she slowly walked out of the room, tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she walked down the hallway. Her vision was blurred as she choked back a sob, holding her arms over her chest as she slightly stumbled through the halls, being careful not to bump into anything or anyone.

Once she reached a spot where she was sure she was alone she broke down, leaning against the wall as she slid down onto the floor, hugging her knees as sobs wracked her body. She felt so overwhelmed by everything and she just couldn't do this anymore, she missed her mom, she missed Ray, she missed Penny, and she missed Claire. She just wanted everything to go back to the way they were, she just wanted to stop feeling overwhelmed by everything but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't.

And the one person she felt like she could trust most with these emotions probably hated her, the one person she trusted most was beginning to scare her and she hated it. She hated feeling like this, she hated feeling guilty about it as well. She just wanted a hug from her mom. That was all she could ever ask for at this moment. The girl pulled out Penny's collar, it still had the dog's scent on it, pretzels, coffee and mud. Taya squeezed the collar tightly, as tears continued to drip down her face, a few tears landed on the collar, creating a darker color on the blue fabric.

She lifted her head when she heard footsteps, only to be seen with Klaus. His face fell when he saw Taya and he stammered slightly, unsure of what to do for a moment, he sat next to her with a concerned look.

"Tay, what's wrong?," he asked as he put his arm around the girl in an attempt to comfort her, hoping he was doing this right.

"I just feel so overwhelmed," Taya admitted, "And I feel like I'm a terrible person for being scared for my mom and what she's becoming and..."

"You're not a terrible person, that's not true, don't you think that for a minute," Klaus soothed.

"But it is true," Taya croaked as she looked at her uncle, "I tried pushing her into talking when she wasn't ready and I let my instincts get the best of me when we were arguing, I didn't want to flinch but I couldn't control it. I didn't even give her time to apologize. And part of me feels like that maybe it is partially my fault for the way she is acting."

Klaus sighed and pulled Taya into a hug and she hugged him back instantly, trying to pull herself together.

"No, no, no. It's not your fault, kid," he reassured, "None of it is, you aren't at fault. I know the way she's acting doesn't make sense nor is it fair to you. But... it's not your fault, Taya."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Taya had pulled herself together she went downstairs, only to see Diego and Stanley arguing about cleaning up the mess Stan had made after he had dropped the fire-bottle. There was a lot of ash surrounding the area, and the banner was badly damaged as well.

"And you're just mad because you got your ass kicked by a floating cube!," Stanley replied as Taya joined Klaus, who was laughing his ass off at Stanley's remark, Taya couldn't help but smile a little bit. This was probably the first time she had smiled since she got here.

"Why are you laughing?," Diego questioned as Klaus looked up at the destroyed banner, "You were conveniently absent when all this shit went down."

"I was talking with Dad," Klaus replied innocently, smiling as if he had no care in the world. Diego pulled Klaus to the side, leaving Taya and Stanley alone together, again.

Once Diego and Klaus had finished talking, the hotel clerk walked over with a cart full of cleaning supplies and handed him keys, Diego nodded before turning around and handing a piece of paper and a bunch of keys to Stanley.

Stanley was going to have to not only clean up the mess in the lobby, but also clean every room on the list he had been given. Diego gently pulled Klaus and Taya over into a huddle-like position.

"And, your Uncle Klaus and Cousin Taya are gonna watch over you."

"Again? Seriously?," Taya asked, her voice raising an octave higher.

Despite Taya and Klaus' protests, they were both stuck babysitting Stanley until he had done his chores.

A/N:

I honestly enjoyed writing Taya and Klaus' scene

Even though I cried lmao