Chapter Text
Klaus still couldn’t believe it. His own father possessed him.
What an asshole.
The sensation was odd, to say the least. On one hand, it was like floating on a river and letting the waves carry and move you, making your body move ever so gracefully. On the other hand, it was like being a marionette, being moved in ways you didn’t know or want to move. In other words, Klaus felt fine about floating on through life but terrified at the thought of his asshole of a father manning the wheel.
He had always been afraid of his father and the reasons never stopped. The stupid training, the missions, the mausoleum, Ben. Reginald took Klaus’s innocence and wonder and replaced it with trauma, fear, and pain.
Throughout all of his hardships, he always remembered that one day he would be in charge. No old man telling him what to do, no siblings giving him side-eye, no more ghosts. For 16 years, Klaus would often daydream about leaving the academy and starting his new life of drugs and partying. And for a while, he got his wish.
So imagine Klaus’s surprise when he tries to talk to his father and avenge his death and takes him over in the process.
Father of the Year.
Snapping out of his train of thought, Klaus felt his body walk down the stairs with an elegance he’s never had. He felt the breeze come and go as the back door opened and closed, his fingers wiggle in anticipation and determination. As an impulse decision, Reginald walked down to the lounge to see if anyone was there, not realizing he was still holding his own ashes.
Reginald neatly placed the ashes down at the center of the table and stood back to observe it. It was mind-boggling to him that a person of his stature and position could be demoted down to a mere pile of dust. However, he wasn't about to risk his body being dug up by a random person.
All of a sudden, Klaus heard a song that he and his father recognized far too quickly. “I Think We’re Alone Now” was a classic to the Hargreeves and especially to Klaus. He etched every word into his memory when the ghosts became too much to deal with. He remembered all the distinct times the academy tried playing the song to have fun, only to be interrupted by their father and more training.
Klaus felt his dear old dad be filled with anger as he stormed out of the lounge to the source of the blaring music. His father failed to see Diego sneakily closing the parlor doors, but Klaus noticed. He failed to consider Vanya’s feelings as he practically shoved her out of his way, but Klaus could relate. He could feel Reggie getting more and more annoyed with every step he took, every beat that played.
Reggie set his eyes on Luther dancing like an idiot in his room, hitting his wooden airplane as he fist-bumped the air. Reginald then proceeded to rush toward the record player, picking up the record and throwing it at the wall. It fell to the ground with a thud, a big chunk of the precious record detached. It was just about to hit the final chorus too. Damn.
“Now is not the time to have a dance party, Number One. You should know better,” Klaus could feel the scowl of death on his own face as he stared at a dumbfounded and offended Luther.
Klaus felt the tension rise as both his brother and father were going to have a full-on fight when the sound of a loud crack spread around the whole house. Both men exchanged a lot then ran out to the source of the noise, staring in shock as an old man with his hands extended appeared in front of them.
Well, Luther was in shock.
Reggie stared with his usual scowl.
Soon enough, Klaus’s siblings quickly showed up as the old man morphed into a very familiar face. ‘Five?’, thought Klaus as his long lost brother fell to the ground with a loud thud.
If he were in control of his body, Klaus would’ve said something along the lines of hallucinating Five.
If only.
“Well, It was about time you showed up” said Reginald as he turned around, leaving the rest of the academy to stare as their “brother” walked away.
----
Even after the conversation, Klaus had to give it to his siblings - they can’t catch a clue to save their lives.
Sure, he saw brows raised and confused looks but nothing out of the ordinary. Like nothing was wrong with good old Number 4. Klaus had to admit that his dad wasn’t doing a bad job of impersonating him. He didn't want to but it really wasn't a choice.
Reggie stood in the back of the room as the siblings talked it out, adding some quips here and there. Even when Five made a sarcastic comment at Allison’s skirt, Reggie replied with a quick “Danke!”
Damn.
Speaking of the skirt, Reggie was immediately revolted at the thought of himself in anything feminine and walked right out.
But not to Klaus’s room.
Reggie went to his own room, surely getting some stares from Klaus’ siblings. Unlike Klaus, Reginald actually felt some form of nostalgia walking through the empty hallways once more. The old man had to admit, it felt good to be back in his home.
How weird.
Finally reaching the comfort of his own space, he shut the door and opened his plain closet of dress clothes. He decided to put on a white collared shirt with a funky tie with suit pants, leaving the coat on. Klaus again had to give props to the old man, there’s an attempt to look like nothing’s wrong.
Even though he isn’t in charge of his own damn body, he still feels the constricted feeling of wearing suit pants. Reggie could’ve gone for the leather lace-ups but those were too “exposing.”
How rude.
After a quick tidying up of his room, Reggie fixed his very expensive suit and left his room. He again failed to notice some of the academy sneakily talking about Klaus (Klaus noticed) as he went back to Number Four’s room.
Reggie shut the door with a small clink sound from the ancient piece of wood and sat down on the bed. Klaus felt his father taking a deep breath and preparing for a probably very long speech.
Just what he needed.
He felt his mouth open as his voice said, “Number Four, I don’t know if you remember from your adolescence, but I would always say that you never reached your true potential. Do you recall?”
‘Of course, how the hell would I forget?’
“Good.”
‘Wait a tick, you can listen to my thoughts? This is such an invasion of privacy-’
“I’m in your body, Number Four, of course I can read your thoughts. Nevermind that, though. I always knew what you were capable of but you couldn’t look past your silly fears to unlock them.”
“Now that I am in control of you, I know exactly how to take your powers to the next level”
‘Wait what do you mean by that-’
Klaus was cut off from his thoughts as he felt himself lift up higher and higher until he could roughly estimate he was flying over his bed by a couple feet.
Rightfully, Klaus was freaking out of his mind.
‘DAD, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING??’
“Relax Number Four, you’re levitating. This is one of your other powers, and if I’m correct, there is another one I’d like to try out.”
Klaus could feel himself concentrating, fixating on an item from his shelf. The trophy from earlier began to shake and tremble as if going through a seizure. After a minute, the trophy picks itself up and starts to float to his father.
The trophies path to Reggie was fairly unsteady, threatening to fall at any given moment until his hand saved it from falling. Klaus, stunned, tried to form the words in his mind but Reggie completed them for him.
“You could always do this, Number Four. When you were asleep, you would float all the way to your ceiling until you woke up. You would also make whatever items you have in here float as well.”
“I tried to tell you but you would never listen, saying you’re too scared. Pathetic.”
Klaus didn’t have any witty comeback or question for his deceased father as he continued to tap into his reservoir. He could feel his powers being used in his soul, could feel how to use it for later. This was actually really fortunate, actually. Klaus could now use new powers without suffering through years and years of training and pain. If he could get control of his body, that is.
Seeing the chance of weakness in his adopted son, Reggie took the chance to suppress Klaus into his mind until he was off in a deep sleep, full of nightmares and broken dreams.
---
A couple hours had passed and Reggie was starting to get the hang of making objects and himself float in the air. Actually, the powers weren’t that complicated at all, they just required a certain amount of focus from the most distracted member of the academy, and that was easier said than done.
Reggie stepped out of the seance’s room to get some water from the kitchen when he heard the backdoor open and close. He could feel the cold air seeping through the academy as he took a step closer to the window.
He saw Grace, Pogo, Numbers 2, 3, 5, and 7 huddle around Number 1, holding the urn from earlier in the living room. Reggie quickly realizes that the funeral (his funeral) was happening right now.
Before he went outside, he heard the heavy rain pouring itself onto the hard ground outside like buckets of water were falling every second. Reaching for the umbrellas, he realized the only umbrellas that were left were Klaus’s old pink umbrella and Reggie’s huge umbrella left in the storage container. Obviously, Reggie goes for his own and heads out to join his children.
Like he was going to choose the pink umbrella.
Practically kicking the doors open, he caught the attention of all the people outside, with Number 1 merely seconds away from pouring the ashes out of the urn. “Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come”, said Reggie in the most sarcastic voice he could muster.
“Goddamnit Klaus, just be quiet” he could barely hear Number 1 mumble as he saw his ashes plop to the ground with a thud.
“Probably would’ve been better with some wind”
---
It was a couple of hours after the funeral and everyone was rightfully pissed, even Reggie. Probably not for the right reasons though. Reggie was mad at the lack of respect the academy kids had for their childhood home. Doing so much as fighting outside and knocking down the statue of their deceased brother was worth a punishment for the rest of their days, but he knew the others wouldn’t take the others seriously when he was still in control of Number 4.
He was contemplating his next actions in his own room when he faintly heard the voices of Number 3 and Number 5 downstairs. It immediately clicked to the dead billionaire as to what his next plan of action should be. If he slowly earned the respect of each of the members, he would have authority and soon beat Number 1.
Perfect.
He made his way down the stairs to the source of voices, meeting them with a cocked head and shifty eyes. He could feel the atmosphere change around him as 3 and 5 dropped their conversation entirely. Was it something he did that gave it away?
“Klaus, are you okay? You’ve been acting really weird all day”, said 3, breaking the silence.
“Oh yeah number thre- Allison, everything’s perfectly fine. Especially now that our little brother is back” said Reggie with subtle gritted teeth and a soft wave to Five.
“Whatever, I’m going to get coffee,” murmured Five. However, before Five could blink away, Reggie reached Klaus’s bony hand to touch Five’s shoulder and they both appeared in front of Griddy’s Doughnuts. It took a second for Reggie to regain his balance but when he looked up, he was met by Five’s irritated gaze.
“Why the hell did you follow me? I usually leave the academy to get away from the people in it, you know.”
“Yeah, I know that. I just didn’t want to lose you again, little bro”, uttered Reggie with the most sincerity he could show. Turns out it was enough to fool the 58-year-old man.
“Call me little one more time and I’ll snap your neck. Now let's go and get my damn coffee.”
---
Five and Reggie had just gotten their order and the waiter, Agnes, just left to the back. Five ordered a coffee (of course) while Reggie ordered a hot tea. He was quietly disgusted at Number Five’s choice at caffeine but he needs to gain his trust before he can criticize others. Reggie was just about to take a sip of his chamomile tea when he heard shuffling and the familiar sound of guns cocking.
Just great.
“That was fast”, muttered Five with sarcasm and astonishment, “I thought I would have more time before they found me.”
“Okay, let's all be professional about this, yeah? Get on your feet and get up. They wanna talk” dictated the man, dressed in all black armor and a massive gun to top off the look.
“I’ve got nothing to say”
“It doesn't have to go this way. Do you think I wanna shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscience?”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that. You won’t be going home” muttered Five as he slowly grabbed a knife, blinked behind the man, and stabbed him in the neck.
Immediately, shots were fired and Reggie knew what he had to do. He jumped over the counter and hid from the ricocheting bullets as he focused Klaus’s energy at his will. He could hear the shouts of two of the men and began to see them float over the counter to the ceiling with cutlery following close behind. He then stood up and made the forks and knives stand up directly beneath them. The men, absolutely horrified, pleaded for their lives but Reggie put his head down and the two men fell to their death, the gushing sound of being impaled echoing around the restaurant.
He sighed and wiped off his hands as Five finished snapping the last man’s neck. He stood up and observed the damage that his brother inflicted on the commission workers. From what Reginald could see, Five was impressed at his handiwork.
“When did you learn to do that?” questioned Five, with his eyebrow raised.
“Oh, that? That’s super basic, I’ve known how to do that since forever ago.” scoffed Reggie. He truly hoped that his plan could work.
And for the most part, it was.
At last, the subtle blare of police sirens were starting to be heard and Reggie grabbed onto Five’s shoulder once more. They blinked back to the academy, so close to meeting the police, but nearly missing them.
---------------
Klaus had finally woken up from the terrors of his mind and for a few short seconds, he forgot his predicament. He was startled as Reggie was washing his face from…..
‘Is that blood?’
Reggie sighed with a slight hint of annoyance and intolerance, “Yes, Number 4, it is blood. For once, your powers helped in defending your siblings.”
‘Ouch, Dad. So who did we defend?’
“Five had some men after him so I stabbed 2 with knives and forks, while he took care of the rest” Reggie bluntly spat out.
Klaus then tapped into his memory and saw Reginald’s perspective of the fight that happened earlier. The way the men begged for their lives, the cling clang sounds of the cutlery shuffling through the air, the distinct smell of blood crawling up his nose.
He couldn’t believe that he was technically a murderer now. He couldn’t believe he was as reckless as to summon his dad without backup. He couldn’t believe that Ben hasn’t noticed yet.
He missed Ben.