Jennifer

My take on 'The Jennifer Incident'. Be warned this one is a little bloody and quite sad. I swear I'll write some pure fluff one day...

I added a year or two to Ben's age, not that that is very important.

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"Why can't you use your window?" Klaus hissed into the darkness, not for the first time that week, as Ben stumbled through his bedroom window and clambered over Klaus' body reclining in bed.

"Don't act like you were asleep," smirked Ben, feeling the sheets until his hand met cool glass. He took the bottle and swigged deeply, grinning at his brother's mock shock illuminated in the moonlight. "We both know your window is the easiest to get in and out of."

"As much as I support your late-night wanderings, Benerino, you might want to cut back on them a little before Dad finds out." Klaus reached out to take back the bottle but Ben placed it firmly out of grasp on the bedside table littered with aging scorch marks from Klaus' drunken destructive impulses. "Hey, I worked hard to sneak that outta the kitch-!"

"I'm leaving the academy," Ben blurted out, shifting uncomfortably in the strangling silence that followed. "We've decided to go on a road trip for a couple of months and afterwards we'll come back and get an apartment together."

Klaus froze, staring at Ben. His mouth worked but the words he found collided and dissolved before they could fully form.

"We'll live close by so I'll never be too far to visit, Klaus, and you'll always be welcome. All of you will."

"But- but what about money?"

"We have enough for the trip and a deposit on a shitty little place downtown. I saved up all my allowance over the years and we'll get jobs when we're back in the city... One that doesn't involve so much violence. And she saved enough for a little camper."

"Well, you can't leave. Dad won't allow it," Klaus declared with an air of finality. He felt a pang of regret, despite his growing fear, when he saw Ben hesitate, his excitement a slight echo on his face.

"I know, but I was hoping you'd help with that," he confessed. "It took a lot to come to this decision and I thought I could sneak away and you could all cover for me after I leave."

"What about missions? We're a team and we need you!"

"Klaus." Ben rested a tentative hand on Klaus' knee, his brows creased together. "I don't want to kill anyone else. I can't..." He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, clutching his stomach where huge, grotesque tentacles could explode from when summoned. With each mission, he returned home more bloodied with the weight of more lives pressing hard on his shoulders.

Klaus sighed and patted his brother's hand. "Okay, okay. I'll help you get out. You should tell the others closer to the day though or someone might tell Dad."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Ben agreed. He jumped off the bed and crept towards the door. Just before he slipped out into the corridor, Klaus called out to him while snatching up the wine bottle. "I'm happy for you, Ben. I'm glad you two found each other."

"Thanks."

The door softly clicked shut. "I just wish I was escaping this hell hole with you," Klaus whispered and drank deeply.

....

Police cars surrounded the mall, blocking the gathering crowd and painting the streets in red and blue. Rain pelted the ground, covering the footsteps of five teenagers sneaking through the side entrance unnoticed. Once inside, they huddled in an empty corridor and the tallest peeked around the corner at the havoc before facing his siblings waiting impatiently for his orders.