Vanya, Klaus, & Diego (& Ben)

What Happened? [Part 2]

(A/N): There's a good amount of swearing, courtesy of Number 4.

~ Vanya's POV ~

I can't focus. It's all too much. The guilt, the fear, the memories.

I know Klaus & Diego are here, but it's like I'm watching everything happen through a screen rather than in person. I know Diego is trying to get me to meet his eyes, but I can't move. I know what's happening, but I can't stop spiraling.

I know at one point I stopped talking; not that I even remember opening my mouth to speak in the first place. I'm staring at the floor, seeing red stains where there is none, unable to tear my gaze away. There's no blood, no Allison, no Leonard. But logic can't help me now.

"You know, Dad was a bastard who hated anything he couldn't control." A sudden voice to my right cut through the fog in my mind. "He should never have given you those pills or locked you in that place." He spit the word out with venom. "Y'know, I think the sadistic fuck had a thing for locking his children up."

"Klaus, what do you mean?" Diego's voice matching my own levels of curiosity and concern.

"Did you think this was a one-time thing?" Klaus raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at the other man. When met with silence, he continued to explain, "Do you remember when we were younger and had to do those individual 'training exercises'?

"For my 'training exercise' he locked me in a mausoleum with only the dead for company... Sometimes he'd leave me there for days, the only time I saw the light of day being when Grace would deliver food as he watched on in disgust." The others didn't know how to respond to this, luckily they didn't have to, because Klaus wasn't finished.

"It was awful... The dead... They never shut up. Hundreds of souls surrounding me, shouting at me because I was the only one who could hear... They wouldn't stop yelling and pleading. Of course, I was used to never getting silence, there were always ghosts around, but I had never really minded it until the first time locked in there. Because after that, they started to follow me.

"Do you guys know why I started taking drugs? It was the only way to drown them out. They blocked my powers and in turn, they blocked out the spirits." I- I had actually never really wondered why Klaus had turned to drugs. Never thought there was an actual reason... And now I feel like an even worse sibling.

Everyone was quiet for a while. Klaus looked past me for a moment and seemed to be having a conversation in his head before he sighed.

"Ben would like me to tell you about my recent accomplishment. I'm sober."

I spoke up for the first time since he started talking. "First off: Ben?! Secondly: I'm so proud of you, especially after what you just told us. May I ask why all of the sudden?"

Klaus actually smiled at that, but it was a sad smile. "I lost someone I loved,"

Diego sucked in a breath and met Klaus's gaze, understanding seemingly rolling off him in waves. "What was her name?"

"Dave. His name was Dave." I dove forward and gave Klaus a hug.

"How did you two meet?" Klaus barked out a bitter laugh at the question causing me to pull away.

"Funny story, but remember when those two nutbags shot up the house looking for 5? Welllll, they kinda kidnapped me and no one noticed. Except Diego's detective friend, that is. I'm so sorry for your loss by the way, she seemed real nice."

Now it was my turn to stare at Diego. He lost someone too? And the house was shot up? KLAUS WAS KIDNAPPED???

"Thanks man, Patch was real amazing. Best partner I could've asked for... But please continue, we want to know more about this 'Dave'." His smile couldn't hide his sad eyes.

Klaus nodded before going on, "Anyways, when I escaped with the two assholes distracted," he sent Diego a guilty look, "I took this briefcase they had - thinking it held money or something I could pawn off to buy more drugs, as I had been 24 hours without and the wailing groupies were back - but instead, when I opened it I was transported into the past. Now, I know what your thinking, but it turns out those two had been agents at that time place Five worked at and the case was a time machine."

Not gonna lie, that did sound pretty far fetched, but so did everything else in our lives, so I wasn't about to say anything.

"Where- When did you end up?"

"Vietnam" My mouth fell open with shock & silent questions. "Dave and I fought together in the A Shau Valley in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast."

Another bitter laugh erupted as he turned his face towards the ceiling. "Bet you never thought I would end up being the sibling to go into the military."

Diego looked like he was trying to find something to say in light of the revelations his siblings had unveiled. Afterall, Vanya just dumped the news that Monocle had locked her up as a child, had Allison Rumor her, & drugged her to hide her powers AND she was manipulated and groomed by a psychopath. And Klaus had just told them about how his powers pushed him into drugs, came out to them, and then talked about he time-traveled to fight in a WAR.

Ultimately, it seemed the only thing he could think of doing was to join them in unpacking trauma.

He talks about the police academy, how he wanted to do the right thing but having grown up a superhero he had a different way of going about it. The only one who stuck by him was Patch, but even she stuck to the book and disapproved of him turning to vigilanteism after getting kicked off the force. He always urged her to take a walk on the wild side for once in her life, and when she finally did it cost her her life.

He talks about how he kept a police radio even after he stopped being a cop and every time they got a call about how a druggie was found dead he was absolutely terrified it would be Klaus.

He talks about when he realized he was bi and how Eudora was the only one he was brave enough to come out to until now. How he was afraid of how other people would react or treat him differently.

"Alright, my Gay-dar™ is officially broken. Diego's bi & Vanya had a boyfriend." Klaus jokes, breaking the tension and somber mood the night had.

"Well... Maybe not completely broken." I whispered.

Klaus leans over and wraps his lanky arms around me, Diego following his lead and embraces us in a group hug.

Suddenly, the fire alarm goes off, ruining the moment. Diego leaps up from his spot on the floor with a shout, "I WAS COOKING!" He rushes off assumably to the kitchen to salvage our now burnt dinner.

~~~

(A/N): I am so sorry... It's been MONTHS since I've updated this. But! I have this story all planned out! There will be three more chapters before this is over & I'm hoping to have them finished by the end of this week when season two is released.
ALSO: that's it for now on the trauma & anxiety attack train! Yup, only fluff for the next few chapters :) you're welcome.

~ 💜 Queer.illusion ✌️
( Oh yeah, I changed my user name. I used to be Kristy_ships_it )