Chapter Eighteen:

Lotus stumbled forward, wrapping her hands around air. She fell to the ground, scraping her elbows as she landed.

Chaos had erupted around them. Hazel and Cha-Cha were on the ground, the van driven by Klaus and Diego was stopped on the side of the road, the front hanging towards a ditch.

"Five?" She called out, "Five!"

The boy was nowhere to be found, she pulled herself to her knees as Hazel jumped up and ran towards her, picking up a gun that lay on the gravel.

What had happened to the bullet? What had happened to Five?

He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger, but no bullets came firing out.

"Shit. Shit. Shit!" Klaus yelled as he made his way towards the car. Diego was already trying to get in the passenger seat, "Get in the car!"

Arms wrapped around her and pulled her up, she looked to see Klaus leading her away. She turned to see Luther chuck the fake briefcase out into the field, Klaus never letting her go until he shoved her in the backseat of the car. Diego was swearing as he finally threw himself in the passenger seat. Klaus squeezed next to her and Luther rammed himself into the driver's seat, jamming the key in and turning on the engine. They made a sharp U-turn and sped off back the way they came, Lotus craning her neck back to see if they had just accidentally left Five behind, if he had been out of sight before.

"Where the hell did he go?" Luther asked angrily from the driver seat. "What did he have planned."

"That was not apart of the fucking plan." Lotus snapped.

"Woah, slow down, young lady." Klaus said from next to her, "No need to get nasty."

She frowned, "I just— why is your brother a little prick."

"Don't know. You learn to tone it out after awhile." Diego sighed.

She crossed her arms, feeling Klaus shift beside her. His skin gleamed, and sweat trickled down his temple. "Are you feeling ok?"

He leaned closer to her, "Just peachy."

"What are we going to do now?" She asked, "Five's gone and he took all the leads with him."

Diego glanced behind at her, "Since when are you apart of the team."

"Since I started to help your damn brother when none of you would." She huffed.

Klaus' leg began bouncing up and down and he leaned towards the middle and asked for the windows to be rolled down. Luther clicked the button and both back windows came rolling down, the man next to her let out a sigh of relief.

"You are definitely not ok." She looked at him, his eyes sparkling. "Are you high again?"

"I've been high for most of my life."

"That's not healthy."

"Yeah no shit." He laughed, "But sadly, right now, I am not."

Something was bothering him, his hands were also shaky as his lifted an arm up and grabbed her head. He began feeling her hair, smiling to himself as he began braiding.

"Why do you keep doing this?" She questioned moving her head so it would be easier.

"It calms me." He sighed, "And your hair is soft."

Lotus sat quietly, someone had turned the radio up and some new song filtered threw the speakers.

A billion faces running round my head

All got opinions but don't mean shit

Keep dropping bombs until the whole world's dead

Diego snorted from the front seat, "How ironic." He turned the dial up.

They said it's all been done and all been said

"Turn it off." Klaus raised his voice, she flinched at his sudden loud tone. Luther muted it, and they fell into silence. "Do you have an elastic?"

She slipped one off her wrist and handed it to him, he tied his braid off and flipped it over her shoulder. "Voila!"

Lotus moved so she sat normally again, she flashed Klaus a warm smile. "You, by far, are my favourite."

He grinned, "I try. I really do."

His grin faded and he pressed his head against the seat in front of him and glared to the empty seat next to Lotus. She sat in the middle seat while Klaus sat to the right of her, yet the man was staring to her left.

"I'm not saying anything." Klaus grumbled, "And I've been trying, believe me."

Lotus gave him a weird look, "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Klaus waved her off, but then he looked back at the empty space and glared. "Nope."

"Who are you talking too?"

"Ben."

Her eyebrows scrunched, "Who?"

"Number 6." Diego let out a sick chuckle, "He was our brother."

"Is, actually. Ben would like to clarify that." Klaus waved his hand in the air.

Lotus frowned, "You can see him."

He gave her a weird look before his eyes widened in surprise, "Ooh! You don't know." Klaus laughed, "I can see and talk to the dead. Well, some dead. Not all the dead."

"Oh. That's different. But kinda cool, can you talk to anyone?"

"He's not in the right state of mind." Diego chimed in, "So no, he can't."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence until Luther parked in an alleyway beside the Academy. Klaus was the first one out of the car, he took shaky steps as he rushed into the building. Lotus scrambled after the man, following him into the building and up countless flights of stairs. She didn't know him well, but it wasn't hard to tell something was wrong. None of his siblings seemed to care, and so she decided she would. She followed him to a room she'd never been to, which ultimately was his. It was big and posters were tapped wherever the space on the wall allowed it, clothes were scattered on the floor along with other things. Basically, his room was an utter mess. But that didn't stop him as he flopped onto his mattress and rubbed his eyes.

"Klaus?"

He sighed dropping his hands, "I stopped shutting my door because eventually people stopped following me."

She frowned stepping in, "Are you sober?"

"Trying to be." He let out a soft laugh, "How did you know."

She shrugged, "I knew an addict once."

Klaus sat up, "Really? Did they ever get clean?"

Lotus pursed her lips, her mother's voice in the back of her head.

Do you want to know why I do this?

"I'd like to think so." She told him, "But my mother kept so many secrets."

Because you drove me to my breaking point.

There were so many things she didn't know about her mom, but she knew the most of it. Though, Lotus kept so many of those memories buried, only keeping a few good ones to dream of. Only now, being surrounded by a dysfunctional family did those memories begin to resurface. She had done everything to forget her mother, but everything she did mimicked the women. And every time she looked in the mirror, she saw her, a teenager burdened with a child that should've never existed.

"Lotus?"

She blinked, "Yeah?"

"Your eyes glazed over." He said, "You good?"

Lotus nodded, watching Klaus as he sat on his bed. She had only seen him a few times throughout her adventures here, but something was off. His eyes weren't as distant, and he seemed completely here. There was a chain around his neck, and when she looked closed she saw they were dog tags. She didn't remember seeing those on him before. Then his eyes met hers, and a story unraveled behind them.

"You lost someone." She blurted out.

"What?"

She shook her head, adverting her gaze from a look she knew all to well. "Never mind." She took off down the hallway, searching for the room she had slept in the last time she was at the Academy, or even just one of the guest rooms. She rushed around the corner and ran into Allison, Lotus stepped around her.

"Lotus?"

"Where are the guest bedrooms?" She asked, feet not stopping. "It's pretty late."

The women gave her a odd look, "Upstairs. Hey- where's Five? I didn't see him come in after you guys."

She shrugged, "Don't know. He had other things in mind. Thanks for the directions." And she was off, finding the staircase and rushing upstairs. Lotus threw herself into the first room she saw and slammed the door, "Why now?" She whispered, why now did her own ghosts reveal themselves. She hadn't thought about her mother in ages, not truly thought about her. Why was everything crumbling down now?

She kicked off her shoes and slipped into the bed, not caring that the curtains weren't drawn. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Why now?" She mumbled.

A soft knock sounded on the door and it creaked open, she peeled open her eyes and looked to see Klaus.

"His name was Dave."

She sat up, "What?"

"The person I lost." He opened the door wider and leaned in the doorway, "His name was Dave."

Lotus frowned, watching as he watched her. She didn't know what to say, nor did she want to talk.

"I'm assuming you lost someone too. Considering how you fled the room."

"You could tell?."

He pursed his lips, "Well, no. Ben made the discovery but I'm taking credit."

"I wish I could meet this Ben." She chuckled, "He seems great."

He nodded, but they ultimately fell back into silence. Klaus stood up, "Are you going to tell me their name? The person you lost."

She shook her head, her mother's name was something she wanted to keep to herself, something nobody else could twist for their own use.

"No."

Klaus sighed, "Goodnight."

He shut the door, not waiting for a reply even if she was never going to give one. She laid back down, ripping the hair tie from her hair. She felt the braid unravel as she shifted under the covers, mind racing. But eventually she fell asleep, it wasn't a peaceful one no, but it was good enough.