“Klaus, you have to try this,” she said, bouncing with excitement as they stopped before the game Dance Upon Revolution.
Klaus crossed his arms, towering over the machine with a skeptical look. “You really expect me to jump around on that thing?”
“Yes! It’s fun!” Morticia grinned, pointing at the screen. “The goal is simple: step on the arrows as they light up to match the rhythm of the song. Easy.”
“That’s literally jumping, not dancing,” Klaus muttered, his brow furrowing.
“It’s not about looking cool; it’s about not falling off the platform.”
Klaus huffed, stepping onto the platform reluctantly. Morticia joined him on the second pad, cracking her knuckles like a seasoned pro.
“Let’s start with an easy song,” she said, scrolling through the menu. She picked a cheerful, mid-tempo tune.
The music began, and the arrows on the screen started scrolling upward in time with the beat. Morticia’s feet moved fluidly, hitting each step with precision. Klaus, meanwhile, hesitated, stomping awkwardly on the wrong arrows.
“Left, Klaus! Left!” Morticia laughed as his character on the screen wobbled.
“I am going left!” Klaus growled, stomping with more force, only to miss again. His frustration grew as Morticia danced effortlessly beside him, her score skyrocketing.
“Okay, stop overthinking,” Morticia said, stepping closer to guide him. “It’s not about force; it’s about rhythm. Feel the music.”
“I don’t feel anything but humiliation,” Klaus grumbled, glancing around the arcade to see if anyone was watching.
“Relax,” Morticia said, grabbing his hands briefly. “Focus on the arrows, not your feet. Trust your instincts.”
The next round began, and this time, Klaus managed to hit a few steps in time with the beat. Morticia cheered loudly, clapping her hands.
“See? You’re getting it!”
“I wouldn’t call this ‘getting it,'” Klaus said, but there was a faint smile tugging at his lips.
The song picked up speed, and Klaus’s movements became more frantic. He misstepped and nearly tripped, grabbing onto the rail for balance.
Morticia doubled over with laughter. “You look like a baby deer learning to walk!”
Klaus shot her a mock glare, then grinned. “Laugh while you can. I’m catching up!”
He refocused, determined now, and began to improve. Morticia squeaked in surprise when Klaus actually outscored her on a particularly tricky sequence.
“Hey! No fair!” she protested.
“All’s fair in rhythm and war,” Klaus said smugly, his confidence soaring.
The final moments of the song arrived, and they both stomped furiously, neck and neck in the score. As the music ended, the screen displayed their results.
Morticia: 91, 000 points.
Klaus: 89, 000 points.
“Ha! Victory is mine!” Morticia declared, doing a little celebratory twirl.
Klaus rolled his eyes but smirked. “Fine, you win this round. But next time, I’m picking the song.”
“Deal,” Morticia said, her cheeks flushed from exertion and laughter. “See? I told you it’d be fun.”
Klaus shook his head, still smiling. “You’re impossible. But maybe… just maybe, you were right.”
“Always am,” Morticia quipped. “Where should we go next?”
“I’m following your lead.”
“Ha, the swings!” she pulled him out of the arcade.
Soon, both of them sat by the swings with a box of dried small chicken.
“Hmm… this is so good,” Morticia moaned on her first bite. “And spicy. How come I haven’t eaten these before?”
“You have, years ago. I bought them for you the day I tried to cheer you up after losing your dad,” Klaus said softly, opening a can of Coke for her.
“Thanks,” Morticia smiled, taking it from him. “Now I remember how much I enjoyed it and asked you for more. You did until I was hella full.”
Klaus grinned and began to eat his, though it felt like he couldn’t taste anything. Josephine’s last surgery was in an hour.
“I can’t believe you’re graduating soon,” Morticia mumbled. “I hope you’re not going far.”
Klaus’s movement paused, and his eyes flashed with something unreadable.
“I don’t know yet,” he replied, and Morticia bit her lips to avoid pressing further. She needed to distract him, to keep talking.
“Have you heard from Nica? It’s been so long since I’ve seen her,” Morticia said. “Vincent mentioned she left the country after meeting her biological parents. I’m so happy for her.”
Klaus seemed shocked. “She did?” Morticia nodded. “Wow.”
He smiled, knowing Nica was now free since Simon and Dimitri were dead. Dimitri was the one who dragged her into the dirty business, forcing Nica to be one of them… but now she was free.
He wished he could say the same for himself, but he had no idea what this Void wanted.
Clearly, the mysterious bastard was not done with them, and he knew it was someone close to him. Someone nearby was watching everything he did.
“What’s wrong?” Morticia asked, snapping him out of his trance.
“Nothing,” he smiled. “I was just thinking.”
His phone rang, and he frowned upon seeing it was from Finn.
“Hello?” he answered, and after hearing his father’s words on the other end, Klaus’s eyes widened as he sprang up, the chicken on his lap falling to the floor.
“Klaus?” Morticia stood before him.
“My mom,” he grabbed his keys and rushed towards his car, Morticia following closely behind.
Klaus literally jumped out of his car when he reached the hospital. He barged in and ran like a madman up to the place where his mother’s ward was.
Getting there, the scene before him made his heart almost jump out of his chest:
Finn pulling his hair in frustration, Evie crying on the floor, Katie pacing in tears while Ava… was nowhere to be found.
What the actual fuck is going on?
“What the hell happened?” Klaus asked, breathing heavily. Finn looked at him, tears in his eyes.
“She didn’t…”
Klaus didn’t hear the rest as he dashed towards Josephine’s ward, sliding the door open harshly. He saw several doctors around her, standing as if they had lost hope.
One of them was sliding a white cloth to cover Josephine’s face.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!” Klaus roared, pushing the doctor away and sliding to his mother’s side.
“Mom!” he tapped her cheek and then checked her breathing.
No response.
No air.
The machine that usually displayed wavy lines now showed thin lines and emitted an annoying noise he didn’t want to hear.
“Mom… mom, wake up,” Klaus croaked, staring at her pale face. “Mom, you promised. W… we have a dinner… I need you to be there. Mom! Come on, this isn’t funny!”
Morticia stood frozen at the scene.
“I’m sorry, Mister… We… we tried to save her… but… we lost…”
Klaus swiftly grabbed the doctor who tried to speak by the collar.
“Don’t you fucking say the next word!!!” Klaus roared.
Finn entered the ward. “Klaus, let the doctor go…”
“You said there was a chance! And she was going to fucking survive! What the hell happened, huh?!!!” Klaus gripped the doctor’s collar tighter.
“It was a slim chance of survival. She suddenly stopped responding, sir. I need you to calm down… We are still trying to find out what happened….”
Klaus’s fist flew into the doctor’s face, blood spilling across the room. The doctor fell heavily to the floor. Klaus climbed onto him and continued to punch him.
“Wake her up!!!” he yelled.
“Fuck it, Klaus… stop!” Finn tried to grab him, managing to pull Klaus off the bleeding doctor, but was pushed back. Finn fell, hitting his head on the floor.
Klaus went to grab the doctor again. “Wake her up before I fucking kill you and burn the whole goddamn hospital!”
Security rushed in.
“Wake her up!!!” Klaus roared at the doctor. The security team managed to restrain him, but Klaus struggled, his teary eyes reflecting his despair.
Pain. Regret. And pain again.
His scream echoed like a loud nightmare, reaching the ears of many. It took ten hefty security guards to take him down and pin him to the floor; his strength was astonishing.
One of the doctors shoved a sedative into his neck, and he screamed again, not wanting to drift into darkness.
They can still save her, right?
She can’t just leave him like this!
Dead? Gone forever?
‘If anything goes wrong, Klaus, know that I’ve lived my life to its fullest, especially with you.’
Klaus burst into loud cries, his gaze fixed on Josephine lying on the bed as the doctor finally covered her up.
“Wake her, please,” he croaked as the sedative finally took its toll on his system. His sight began to fade.
“She promised to survive… She promised,” he tried to move, but they were still holding him down. Veins throbbed on his neck.
He couldn’t hold it any longer; he collapsed onto the floor.
“Mom… I’m… so sorry… sorry,” he whispered one last time before slipping completely into darkness…