#0.08 : The Mimic //COMPLETE//

0.2 - The Funeral

When Claudia awoke, Klaus was gone again. She sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. It never got old, the constant need to keep tabs on him. The only thing that bothered her was the emergency OD pack that she'd been forced to carry due to his addictions.

She got up, grabbed her purse from the night stand, and made her way downstairs where the rest of the siblings had gathered in the living room. She plopped herself down between Klaus and Vanya.

She silently listened to Diego and Luther go back and forth until the phrase made it's way out of Diego's mouth. "Isn't it obvious? He thinks one of us killed Dad."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fucking right. When was the last time any of us were even close to the old bastard?" She asked, making her leave behind Klaus who made a jest about going to kill mom.

She made her way to the kitchen and made up whatever small meal she could find. Of course the only things moderately within their expiration dates were the peanut butter and marshmallows.

Claudia raised the sandwich to her mouth to take a bite when Klaus entered the room accompanied by their father's ashes and a glass of alcohol.

"Last time I checked your powers don't work like mine," she laughed. "Why are you toting him around like that?"

Klaus shrugged. "Maybe he'll stop laughing it up with Stalin and come see me  if I carry him around long enough."

A loud clap of thunder echoed through the house. Klaus and Claudia exchanged glances before he laced his fingers with hers. She looked down and half smiled, dragging him out to see what was going on. On the way past the door, he snagged a fire extinguisher.

"What the hell, Klaus?" She shouted over her shoulder as they made their way out to the courtyard. When they burst out the doors, a giant blue swirl of light was floating above the rest of the group.

Five. She thought. There was no other explanation for such a large-sized black hole. In addition, she would know the emotion she was feeling anywhere. Confident with an undertone of arrogant. It often overpowered any other emotion in the area.

She ducked through Luther and Diego's arms, despite their protests, and reached out to hug the boy she once knew when he finally emerged from the temporal anomaly.

He responded by gently wrapping an arm around her.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five or is that just me?" Klaus asked. Claudia let Number Five go and backed away a bit.

Claudia wrapped an arm around Five's shoulders and led him inside with the others. "We all missed you," she told him softly. The others knew she could feel their emotions, but she hadn't been vocal about her power since they all parted ways. "I know they'll lie about it, but we all did. Especially me."

Five squeezed her shoulder as they entered the kitchen. He started making his favorite sandwich, peanut butter and marshmallows. "What's the date?" He asked, slapping a giant glob of peanut butter across a slice of bread.

"The 24th," Vanya answered. "Of March."

"Are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asked. Claudia always felt his sense of duty and confidence. It was muted greatly, with Five being in the room.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, watching the 13 year old jump through space to grab the things he needed.

"The future," Five replied. "It's shit by the way."

"Called it!" Klaus yelled.

It was at this time that Claudia took the notice that it was the first time in years that she could feel everyone's energy in the same room. Five's rampant confidence, Luther's own as well has his insecurity, Allison's sass undertoned by worry for her daughter, Diego's brooding anger (toward whom was unclear to her), Vanya's medication-dulled anxiety, Klaus's light nature, and Ben's sulking depression. 

The feeling felt comfortable to her. It reminded her of simpler times, when they were all together and she didn't have to fret about trivial things like keeping her business open and surviving without her family at her back.

The makeshift funeral service went just as Claudia had expected. Diego and Luther got into it, breaking Ben's statue and driving the rest of the family out of the courtyard. By the end of it, Klaus and Claudia were the only ones left outside.

Claudia's hand reached out toward Klaus, and she made a gripping motion. He handed her the cigarette from between his fingers. She snagged it and took the longest drag she could manage.

"Slow down there, bud," Klaus laughed, taking the cancer stick back from her.

"I think we both know how much I needed that after what just happened," Claudia sighed. She walked over to the place where the statue of Ben had fallen and laid her hand over the tattoo she had for Luther. After a couple of deep breaths her eyes took on the black shade they did while she was "borrowing" strength from her siblings.

Her arms scooped up the broken body and placed it back on the empty pedestal. She set the head neatly next to his feet, kissed her hand and placed it gently on the forehead of the metal.

"You miss him," Klaus stated, butting his cigarette in the pile of their father's ashes.

"Sometimes," Claudia answered, wandering up to Klaus from behind and wrapping her arms around him. "I wish it was as simple as it was before."

Klaus nodded, "Me too."

She released him from the embrace and found her way back into the house. The entryway was empty save for Pogo and Vanya. Claudia greeted both of them.

"Are you heading out?" Claudia asked her, standing next to Pogo.

"Yeah, I've got lessons early and rehearsal tomorrow," Vanya answered. Outside a taxi honked for her. "That's me." She waved goodbye and walked out the front door.

Claudia turned to Pogo. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?" She asked, gesturing toward the vacant living room.

"Of course, miss Claudia," he obliged, following her to the bar at the back of the room.

"Before I left, Father told me if anything like this were to happen, I was meant to hold the family together," she started, "but we're all so broken. How am I supposed to pull all of us together when we aren't even all on speaking terms?"

Pogo pondered her statement for a while. "Your father saw your gifts as a way for you to be able to play the mediator," He chose his words carefully, and it didn't slip past Claudia. "With your ability to sense other's emotions, you were given the hardest task of all of them. Interpreting the human mind."

"I'm not a psychologist, Pogo," Claudia responded, running her fingers through her hair. "How am I supposed to determine where all of the emotions are aimed? One day Allison might be pissed off, but how am I to know whether that's directed at Diego or Luther or even understand why she feels that way?"

"You talk to them, miss Claudia," Pogo said. "You calm them, bring them all to a delicate balance."

"I've spent most of my life trying to balance one of them and I haven't succeeded, yet I am expected to balance six more?" Claudia asked. "I'm not ready for this. I never was. Why the fuck should it be my responsibility to hold this sorry excuse for a family together?"

"It was one of your father's dying requests. It is imperative that you hold the Academy together. He said the world depends on it."