Kladora - It Was Different

Chapter 13 - Lost and Found

It felt like we were driving forever. Sunny was fast asleep, as she had been for countless hours, Duncan was holding Violet's hand on the gear stick and Violet was wearily watching the road and taking us to what we now knew was the city. I had my knees propped up on the seat, my commonplace book resting on them as I wrote down useless sappy couplets, most of them about Klaus...his eyes, his face, his hair, his smile, his laugh...everything. Klaus was sitting behind me, my head on his chest, so we were lying horizontally across the seats. He was playing with a piece of my hair, twisting it into little braids and then undoing them. I was blushing, but I wasn't embarrassed. Because I didn't need to be. I was with my last remaining family member, my boyfriend, my best friend and his adorable baby sister. It wasn't perfect, but it was much easier to see the good in life. I cherished this moment. Before anybody knew it, the car stopped suddenly. Violet had stopped it, her foot was on the break and her hand on the hand break. We looked out the windows to see what we'd stopped for. We were back in the city. The dreaded city I'd left just a few days ago, I was back in. With its towering skyscrapers, people dressed stupidly fancy, and restaurants grasping for glory, we were back in the city, stopped in a quiet street on the road side. Why we'd stopped here I didn't know, until Violet started crying and shook Duncan, pointing at something I couldn't see. Duncan started crying too, and immediately jumped out his seat and out the car, opening my door and pulling me out. He ran, pulling a highly confused me behind him. Until I saw him. A piece of my past I'd longed for since I lost him. He looked almost identical to the boy beside me, but his hair was longer, his clothes had burn marks and were in complete tatters and his eyes were wide as could be. Duncan sprinted forward and tackled him, me joining the pile of sobbing shortly afterward. Violet came running over too, carrying Sunny. We let Quigley go so he could meet the Baudelaires.
"Q-Quigley? I-I'm Violet...Duncan told me a lot about you. It's great to finally meet you, but how are you even here?" She stuttered, shakily taking his hand and shaking it.
"I-I escaped my family's home through a secret tunnel my mother put me in...I followed it to a herpetologist's home. I met a man named Jaques Snicket, but then I left to find you. I-I can't believe you're here. It's nice to meet you too Violet. Are you all friends with my siblings?" He explained.
"Oh, this is my brother Klaus and my sister Sunny. We're all close friends with Duncan and Isadora." She explained, gesturing to Klaus and Sunny.
"Pfft. Nice to meet you Quigley, but I'm afraid Violet has avoided the truth. She's Duncan's girlfriend." Klaus said bluntly, all of us erupting in giggles, except Violet who blushed. Duncan our his arm around her.
"I'm Isadora's boyfriend, so I can't really say anything." He said, but the moment he said it Quigley's expression changed from laughter to protectiveness.
"Hey, you seem like a nice guy but just watch it with my sister will you?" he says kindly, but with a steely edge to his voice.

"Done. I love her man, I'm not gonna hurt her. I swear." Klaus says, wrapping his arm around me tighter and kissing my cheek. I blush. Quigley nods and pulls a face like he just ingested a bowl of sour sweets and hot sauce. I start to cry when we get back into the car, my brother, dead until this morning, alive. My life just seems to be getting that little bit better everyday.

(A/N: I AM ALIVE!! I thought I would post this short chapter because I felt bad for ignoring this story. I'm quickly becoming a HUGE Divergent fan, as well as still being a HUGE Hunger Games fan, and I just felt awful for dropping the first fandom I obsessed over like a hot potato. This is not going to be a regular thing, but I thought I'd post this just because I'm AMAZED that something I wrote has nearly 2,000 readers. Thank you!)