#0.08 : The Mimic //COMPLETE//

0.6 - The Brothers

Claudia's eyes shot open to a setting she wasn't familiar with. The emotions circling the room belonged to Diego and Luther, she was at least sure of that.

"Claudia," It was Diego's voice. "Can you hear me?"

She nodded and tried to sit up. A stabbing pain echoed through her head and she fell back down on her back again. Luther's hand laid on her shoulder.

"Slow down there," he said, "you have a concussion. You need rest."

"Where are we?" She asked, gently rolling over on her side to face her siblings. "Where is Klaus?"

"We're at my place," Diego explained, "the house isn't safe. As for Klaus, none of us have seen him. We assumed he fled when it started getting loud in the living room."

"I have to find him," Claudia responded, sitting back up again. "Did you bring my things?"

Diego produced her bag from under his bed and set it down next to her. The pain was harsh when she leaned over to root through the contents of her suitcase. She pulled out a medicine bottle and her pipe.

"You can't smoke that in here," Diego offered her a hand. "I'll help you out back though."

Claudia draped her arm around Diego's shoulder and the other around  Luther's waist and let them help her out to the back alley. She leaned against the brick wall between the two of them and lit her pipe.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked, taking a sharp inhale. "Five, Allison?"

"Allison went to track down Vanya. Apparently her new boyfriend is a little suspicious. As for Five, none of us have seen him since the other day," Luther explained, waving his hand in front of his face to disperse Claudia's smoke. "We were going to try and find him."

"Okay," Claudia said, swapping her pipe for a cigarette. She had to find Klaus. He was always disappearing anyway, but something about this time felt different to her. "I'm going to check a couple places for him. I'll catch up with you later."

Diego started to protest but before he could say anything she warped away. Claudia reappeared in front of her apartment. She hoped he would be there, but the door was still locked and there was no sign of him in the halls or on the staircase.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside, just in case he had used the spare key under her doormat. He usually didn't lock the door behind him when he did, though. She was just trying to grasp at straws. 

The apartment was of course empty, everything exactly how she had left it. "Son of a bitch," she swore, jumping again to her dispensary. She hurriedly dropped and stamped out her cigarette, slamming the back door open.

Her assistant manager, Max, was on the computer. He swiveled around on the office chair. "Claudia! Oh damn you don't look so hot."

"Has Klaus come by at all?" She asked, praying the answer would be yes.

Max just shook his head. "Maybe he ended up at rehab again? I haven't seen him since the other night when he stopped by to see you."

"God damn it," she exited the back door again. Falling to her knees on the ground, she felt tears start to fill her eyes. Her fist slammed into the ground in front of her, opening a pothole the size of a frying pan in the pavement of the alley. 

Her emotions began to run rampant, anxiety flowing through her veins. She made her way down the street, pushing past anyone in her way as she walked to the library where Diego and Luther had said they were going.

When she had finally found them, they were on the top floor.

"Any luck?" Diego asked as she approached them.

Claudia shook her head. "What about you?"

"Nothing yet," Luther responded.

"He's definitely here. I feel him," she responded. She felt Five, the confidence was there, but dulled. She followed the feeling, her brothers trailing behind her. She came upon five half-passed out with his arm around Dolores, a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"He's drunk," she said, grabbing the mannequin. "Let's get him out of here."

Luther scooped the thirteen year old up and the three of them made the walk back to Diego's place. Five rambled on incoherently about the apocalypse and Dolores while they made their way back.

By the time they had returned to the back room of the wrestling gym, it was dark. Luther laid Five down on the bed, and Claudia set the mannequin down next to him.

When Claudia looked back, Ben was leaning against the wall next to Diego's desk. He had never shown himself to her before. She had only ever seen him when Klaus was around.

"Ben," she whispered, making her way over to him. She was so out of it she didn't even hear the knock on the door while she was reaching out to hug him. Her fingers made contact with the cloth of the hoodie he was wearing and she embraced him.

"Claudia, what are you doing?" Luther asked. His voice pulled her out of her trance, and she stepped back from Ben. They stared at each other for a few seconds before she realized what it was she had just done.

"I- I think I just touched Ben," she said, reaching out for him again. Her fingers brushed his cheek. "Hit me."

"What? No," Ben answered, shaking his head.

"Just do it," Claudia hissed. Ben reached out tentatively and poked Claudia's cheek that was facing Luther.

Luther watched as her skin indented and then let go after Ben's hand retreated. "Okay, now why couldn't Klaus do that?" Luther asked.

"Not to break up your detective work, but my friend called and said she found our brother," Diego said, "Claudia you should stay here. You need to rest, and I don't want you to get hurt out there."

"I'm coming with you," she argued, starting to gather her things.

"I think she can handle herself, Diego," Luther said, backing Claudia up.

She thanked him and gave him a light squeeze on the shoulder before following Diego out to his car.

"So what's up with you being able to interact with Ben like that?" Diego asked while they were on their way to the address his friend had given him.

"I don't know. I just really feel like he's in trouble and I'm so worried about him," Claudia sighed. She couldn't keep herself from crying again. "Maybe it's something he could do with his power if he was sober enough."

"I don't know either. It makes sense that you are stronger with his power though," Diego replied thoughtfully, pulling into the motel parking lot. "Maybe being so much closer to him emotionally gave his powers a boost for you."

Claudia shrugged and hopped out of the car. The door to the room they had directions for was busted open. Diego's friend was sprawled across the floor, blood oozing out of a bullet wound to her head. There was no sign of Klaus.

Claudia felt the rage start to build in her again and she turned to punch the wrought iron railing of the balcony. Pieces of iron snapped off, flying down to the parking lot below and cracking the windshield of the car underneath them.

Diego was so caught up in grief that he didn't realize that Claudia had started to slip out of consciousness. It wasn't until her body hit the concrete that he realized she was losing it.

"I have to get you home," he muttered under his breath as he scooped up her body and carried her back to his car.