Chapter 29

I Think You Broke Mr. Crabs

Klaus was sitting on the plane while drinking mineral water. They had been in the air for about three hours, his mind was lost in thoughts of the future.

Lilith had gone to make plans with her team, so he was alone with the demons and the others.

Their day at the beach was a well-needed break from what was going on. He knew in his heart of hearts that it would be the last time that they would have such a chance for a long time. He looked at Leo. The young man had been less talkative and offensive since they came back.

Klaus' eyes turned to Fred. The Spartan's friend was sitting far away from Leo. The two interacted less, and Klaus could see that there was a rift between the two. Klaus felt a twinge of guilt at that, but he had done what was needed.

He had gone in optimistic and naive at the party, thinking that if he promised many things, people would respect him for it. Klaus shook his head at his own naivete.

It may have worked with Fred, who had grown up with little, but the others from what Klaus could tell had grown up with everything they wanted. Getting something without working for it was to be expected.

Klaus knew that what they got came with a price: sacrifice. Everything seemed to be weighed by power and profits. The rich had their own problems, the families were stuck in a perpetual war for resources, and the competition was steep. So, they had to prioritize.

Beatrice was a good example of this. The story that Liz told him while she cried on the beach was another.

Everyone on the plane had to sacrifice something, himself included. Klaus had his purpose. It is what forged him into the person he was. It was why he fought for the things he wanted, and with one phone call, Klaus had done more than he ever could have as a lawyer. It caused happiness and confusion at the same time.

Klaus had lost his purpose while Lilith had gained one. Yes, he had a goal in mind. He wanted to find his parents, but that could not serve as his compass. Klaus felt that knowing what needed to happen would help him be in control of his instincts more.

He needed a purpose, or he would lose his way.

It was because of this that his mind often wandered to the seeds his parents wanted him to find. His awakening, the visions he saw had instilled an urgency in him that he could not really process. Klaus knew it was important. He knew it could save lives, but it all felt so distant and uncertain.

Klaus was not touched by it personally except for the fact he was left as an orphan because of it. Even that felt distant. It was what he knew, it was his normal, so it did not instill what he needed.

Klaus looked over at Pride, only to find that she was looking at him as well. She was not a beautiful woman, her eyes were far too hard, and her mouth seemed to have a perpetual downward curve.

Klaus got up and walked over to stand in front of the demon. Only one seat was modified for his weight, so sitting down would carry the risk of him breaking it.

"Can we talk?"

Pride leaned back without saying anything, and Klaus took her silence as acceptance.

Silence and the others were looking at them with curious eyes.

"I want to know more. Tell me about your world and what my parents are fighting for."

Pride frowned. "Why?"

Klaus rubbed at his hair. His reasons were personal, and he did not want to speak of it where everyone could hear. Then he realized that she must be feeling the same.

'Maybe it is a test?'

He took a deep breath and started to talk. "For a long time, I knew what I wanted. What I wanted to do and accomplish. I have lost that now, but you and the others talk about my mission and what my parents are doing, but it feels distant, and I don't understand half of it."

While Klaus spoke, the others came closer. Klaus had never spoken to them about a mission or what he wanted to accomplish. Fred, like most others, wanted to collect wealth for his family.

Liz was just as lost. She had wanted to prove herself to the sister that had to give up what she had accomplished to look after her. After what she found out, Liz no longer knew what she wanted.

Amelia was stuck in a precarious situation, one she did not want to foist on Klaus and the others. Common sense screamed that she had to, that if she didn't, it could come back to haunt her in the end. Duty to her family kept the young woman's mouth shut.

Beatrice just wanted to help Amelia. Her mistress had changed her life for the better.

Leo was similar to Beatrice. He wanted to help his friend but had come to realize just how much he was messing up. Liz was giving him the cold shoulder, much like his friend was. Although he was proud and had always been filled to the brim with confidence, self-reflection was proving to be unkind to him.

As a result, they all found themselves curious about the mission and what made Klaus tick.

Pride saw the others trying to move closer and listen in without making it obvious. She did not care. Klaus had the potential to do great and terrible things like his mother.

She thought back to her home planet, how it was when the blight came.

"I was seven when the blight reached our world. Being a child meant I did not understand what my parents were talking about when they thought I was not around." Her tone was monotone and unfeeling.

Klaus had the urge to sit down but remembered what it would do.

Pride looked at him with irritation and moved to sit across from the chair where he could relax.

Once seated, she continued. "I was a princess of a large kingdom, I no longer remember the name. What I do remember was that the technology was nowhere near close to this. We had magic, and magic makes life more convenient, so we don't have the drive or need to develop gadgets. There are the eccentrics, of course, and other worlds you may come across exceeds the technology you have here."

She took a deep breath. "The blight is not a sudden thing. It is slow and poisonous. You watch the land die, and warp into something sinister. I can't remember much, but I remember one night specifically. My father came to me. I was to be sent away. He tried to but failed to hide his hand, which had started to warp and change like the land we were in charge of. The king was broken and was starting to change into what you people call demons." Her tone was accusatory.

Klaus saw her looking over his shoulder. To his surprise, he saw the others standing there.

She ignored them and turned back to Klaus, her face even harder. "We ran for years, fought for our lives against the very people we used to love as they became mindless creatures determined to kill everything and anything that was not tainted. The blight is insatiable, and it craves only one thing. Life energy."

She looked deeply into Klaus' eyes. "Then your mother arrived and with her an army so vast, that it stretched from horizon to horizon. There were others. Blighted like the ones we were fighting, but they were in control of their thoughts, to a degree. By then I was starting to change as well."

Pride smiled for the first time, and it made the teens shuffle uneasily. Her teeth were sharp like the other demons'. "The Roth came with her. They were not many, but they radiated life like suns. They were the light in our endless darkness, and at the head was your father. Your mother was a sight to behold, death incarnate. Continents were destroyed by her alone, turned into deserts of ash where not even the blight could grow. She was the purge, the end of all things. The destroyer, we called her."

Pride leaned back and closed her eyes. "Your father was the opposite. He fought and killed hundreds with his elite troops, but where they went, life followed. I met your father once in my life and once was enough to understand what type of man he is. He came across as cold and aloof, but his actions spoke of something far greater. He is probably the only thing that does not fear your mother in existence. They would often fight when she spread too much destruction. They are known to not talk for months on end when their fights break out. Despite it all, your mother would never hurt him. He is her balance, her tie to the mortal world not through strength, but through his virtue and purpose to save as many as he can. Even blighted abominations like me."

Pride opened her eyes and leaned forward towards Klaus. "These are the people you must live up to. As you are now, I think you will fail. The seeds can turn it all around. They can save everything, possibly turn back those who have been turned by the blight, save entire planets. You can help save billions. You are not alone on this mission. There are others sent out all over the Secret Worlds, but you are a symbol of hope to those like Silence, who has no brain."

Pride stood up and sneered at Klaus. "Talks of purpose and goals are useless. You are too weak to help in the frontlines, maybe too weak to help at all. You have a mission, Klaus, complete it. That is your duty."

Pride looked at all the teens, who no longer tried to hide that they were listening in. "Get some rest. The gloves come off when we land. We will make warriors of you, or you will die while we try."

Klaus was speechless. The words spoken felt like weights hanging heavily on his shoulders. He wished for just a moment to talk to his parents, to try and understand.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him back to the real world. The hand belonged to Liz.

She was quiet for a moment and then spoke. "Why did you not tell us?"

Klaus thought about it for a moment. He was used to doing things alone, but it was more than that. He did not trust them, not really.

"Would it have made a difference?" He finally asked.

To his surprise, it was Leo that spoke. "Yes. I don't understand everything and to be honest, the Secret Worlds has never been anything more than a fairy tale to me, but my parents are fighting in that war."

The Spartan had not been sure, but he was now. His heart needed it to be true. Thinking of any other reason for his parents to abandon him for ten years, hurt too much.

Klaus only nodded. Leo felt his heart sink at the gesture. It was just another thing he had messed up with. Jumping the gun like always. He now understood why the steward was even more livid when he failed to get into a team with Klaus than when he fought against his brother.

"I know we started off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry. You may not believe me and I wouldn't blame you if you don't." He turned to Fred and Liz. "I apologize to you as well. Fred, I took you for granted, never thought of what you were going through or needed. It just never crossed my mind, which means I'm a selfish prick."

Liz snorted and glared at him, but her eyes were filled with amusement. "Finally, developed a brain."

She then looked at Klaus and took his hand. "It does make a difference. You hardly ever talk about yourself, unlike Amelia there I don't have all the information I want at my fingertips."

Amelia gave Liz a hurt look. "My family deemed anything before Klaus was attacked by the Argents as unimportant."

Beatrice chuckled and whispered to Amelia. "It did not stop you from trying to dig out the rest, though."

Klaus heard Beatrice and found that he could not blame her. He had done the same, after all.

Liz sat down where Pride had been seated and looked at Klaus expectantly. The others also moved closer.

Liz playfully kicked his shin. "Tell us your story."

He hesitated, but eventually, the words flowed out. He left out some things, but the others were not dumb and connected the dots.

Fred was the first to comment. "Let me get this straight. You dated Elise's sister, and now you are dating her aunt. Man, I don't know if I should give you respect or condolences. I've heard the Dalmora are... difficult, but what they tried to do was another level of messed up."

Beatrice slapped his shoulder. "That's all you got out of it. You are such a typical guy."

Fred rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed, while the others chuckled at his expense.

Liz looked thoughtful. "So we know that two of our members carry bloodlines from mystical beasts or monsters of some kind."

The young woman smiled at Klaus. "Your mood swings make a lot of sense now."

Klaus huffed and looked away. He was feeling embarrassed.

Beatrice was never one to miss a chance to make such a thing worse. "Aww, look our leader is embarrassed."

Leo chuckled, and Liz focussed on him. "What are you laughing about, you don't have an excuse for how you acted."

To her surprise, Klaus put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "This is not an excuse; I would be a hypocrite if I thought of it as one. It would make me no better than Billy."

The others fell quiet. Klaus' words were harsh, but they understood why after hearing his story.

The atmosphere turned more serious. "Do you think he will be able to kick the habit?" Leo finally asked.

No one answered.

"We have three people that have a mixed bloodline." Amelia almost whispered. She had become more sullen the more Klaus revealed. She felt like she was deceiving them and did not want to.

Beatrice turned to her with surprise and quickly wanted to play it off as a joke, but Amelia touched her shoulder.

Liz's eyes widened at the news and what it meant. "You are from the main branch of your family."

Amelia nodded.

Klaus had read the file on the Sciencia as well. The main branch was rumored to share their bloodline with a fox. 'The Kitsune.'

Leo asked the obvious question hanging in the plane. "Why are you here?"

Amelia took in a deep breath. "Politics."

Leo and the rest wanted to know more, but Beatrice held her hands up. "My Lady has already said more than her oath allows her to. Please do not push for more."

Klaus held up his hands to keep objections from being voiced. "I'm sure that there will be a time when we will learn the whole truth. We may not need it now, but I must know; are we in any danger for being in the same group as you?"

Amelia took her time to answer. It was a gesture that Klaus appreciated because she was thinking about it seriously. "Not immediately. I was told that this world is far away from our main branch, so we should not run into any of them during our introduction."

Fred stuck up his hand as if he was in class. "What do you mean?"

Amelia looked around and then walked towards the minibar while talking, "I don't know how much I will be able to explain without the Secret Worlds interfering, but." She took four bottles and a packet of chips, before walking back.

She unfolded a table between Klaus and Liz and placed the bottles in a half-moon shape. "Imagine these are normal worlds." She then placed the packet of chips near the top of the table. "This is the introductory world, and all these normal worlds lead to it." She wanted to say more, but her voice caught.

She shook her head and then gestured. "I can't say how they are connected but know this. There are many more normal worlds, and not all of them lead to the same introductory world. Kind of like clusters."

Klaus leaned back. His mind was running with possibilities. "So we are going to meet others from our cluster on this introductory world?"

Amelia nodded and picked up a bottle. "This is us, planet Yeotis." She picked up another, "this is planet Earth. Planet Thenrar and Yaro are the only other two who's names I was able to learn."

"The main branch of my family is many clusters away from us."

Fred sat back in his chair, jaw slack. "How many awakened are out there? I knew I was not special compared to you guys, but just how..."

He fell silent. Beatrice chuckled, "I think you broke Mr. Crabs."

No one laughed with her. How could they? Their whole world view had just changed?