Klaus continued running down the sidewalk, trying to hold back his tears as the flashback of Dave hitting him replayed in his head. Out of all the time they spent together before his died in Vietnam, he had never seen Dave say or do something so violent to a person. Eventually, he ran out of breath, pressing his back against the brick wall of a random building. He slid onto the ground, feeling tears trickle down his face. Ben was equally shocked by what had happened in there. Part of him wanted to give Klaus the "I told you so," talk, but he knew this was not the time nor place to do this.

Klaus sat on the ground for a few minutes longer, feeling all that sadness and disbelief numb his body. He slowly got up and could see a nearby liquor store in the distance. Wanting to numb the pain a little bit longer, he stood outside the front doors for a second before bursting in and immediately rushing over to a random shelf with the best alcohol. "It's not too late, Klaus. Do you really want to throw three years of sobriety out the window?" Ben questioned as Klaus searched through the alcohol bottles.

"In case you didn't notice, the last three years have been a royal shitshow," he laughed. "And this will only make it worse," Ben added. "Maybe, but we're about to find out!" Klaus heavily sighed as he continued his search for some good booze, secretly drank a few bottles when the cashier wasn't looking, and danced around like a maniac. By the time he had made it back to the mansion, he noticed the door was slightly open, his eyes widened as he wondered who could've gotten in.

He looked to his right, seeing the Destiny's Children bus parked in the driveway. "Oh no, oh goddamn it. How did they find me?" he muttered. Before he could think, the door opened a bit further, revealing some of his followers, who instantly gasped at the sight of him. "It's him! The prophet has returned!" They shouted with glee, rushing towards him despite Klaus's protests to stay inside. More followers kept pouring out of the mansion like a running waterfall.

With no other options, Klaus ran for it, having to get rid of the bag of alcohol that was slowing him down, and only one big bottle remained with him. He ran for a while, hoping the followers would either become tired or lose sight of him. It took him about ten minutes for them to lose him as he ducked into a nearby bush. He waited for the pattering of footsteps to become a reasonable distance away and carefully climbed out, keeping an eye out in case they decided to come back.

"You're not going to be able to avoid them forever, Klaus. You're going to have to come back to them eventually," Ben said, startling his brother. "Shut up! They might still be here!" Klaus hissed, cautiously looking around as he continued to take sip after sip from his remaining bottle of alcohol, not caring about the hangover he would get the next morning. When nightfall came, he stumbled through Allison's neighborhood, reaching her front door and rapped on the wooden door.

Within a few seconds, the door opened and for a moment, Allison thought that Ray had come home. "Hola! Esta Allison, en casa buena?" The drunken Klaus asked, leaning up against the wooden doorframe. "Oh sweet Jesus," Allison sighed as she let her brother in, the smell of the alcohol making her nose scrunch up in disgust. "I just need a place to crash for one night," He slurred. "Couch is all yours," Allison pointed out. Klaus set his bottle of alcohol on the ground before diving into the couch pillows, muttering nonsense before passing out.

Allison stared at him for a moment before taking a blanket from the head of the couch and covering him in it as he began to let out soft snores. "Dusky... Wusky..." He mumbled as he shifted his weight on the couch. Allison grew surprised. She had never heard him call his best friend that, thinking Songbird was the only nickname he had given her. It soon became apparent to the rumor that the more Klaus talked in his sleep about the raven beauty, Allison had a hunch that he was secretly in love with her.

~~~~~~~~

The Next Morning...

Klaus let out a soft groan as his eyes slowly opened, and he began to look around and see that he was now in the kitchen rather than lying on the couch where he had collapsed. He soon caught a glimpse of Ben lying on the floor a foot away from him. "And how are we feeling this morning?" Ben asked. "Oh, peaches and cream. How are you?" Klaus groaned as the hangover hit him hard. "I'm curious, how many more rock bottoms are you gonna have to hit before you start taking care of yourself?"

"I'm thinking of a number between... 11 and... 25," Klaus responded. "What ghost are you talking to now?" Allison asked as she came downstairs, dressed in a long white robe. Number Four slowly sat up and leaned against the fridge, lying about how he was talking to a cowboy and how he was ugly and dumb, making Ben roll his eyes at Klaus's subtle insults. "Is that really necessary?" he questioned. Klaus took a sip from his flask, savoring the bitter taste for a moment before swallowing and looking up at Allison.

"Klaus, if you're looking for an enabler, look elsewhere," Allison sighed, picking up the bottle with the remaining alcohol. "Allison, your marriage is in trouble, and your rally turned into a riot. If now is not the time to have a drinking party, I don't know when is," Klaus said, holding out his flask. Reluctantly, she sat next to him, curious as to what caused him to get so drunk this time. "My claustrophobic cult tracked me down. I fell off the wagon, I professed my undying love for this young gay man who doesn't know he's gay yet at a 1963 diner in front of his blatantly closeted uncle. Not in that order though," He explained before taking another sip.

Allison took the flask from his hand, seeming like she was trying to stop him from drinking, but she wasn't. "You know, I've got a blender and some much better booze. So, if we're going to start day drinking, we should start doing it right," she chuckled. A huge grin broke across Klaus's face as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I love you so much," he whimpered happily, trying to stand up but felt the throbbing in his head once again as he was ready to get his drink on once more.

~~~~~~~

That same morning, Dusk woke to the combined sound of James crying from his bedroom and someone ringing the doorbell multiple times. "Dusk! There's someone at the door for you!" Mary shouted over the crying. "Coming!" she tiredly replied, crawling out of bed and almost hitting her head on the bedside table. It was eight AM in the morning, and she had been hoping to get one decent amount of sleep since she discovered that the rest of her family was in Dallas.

Dusk rushed towards James's room quickly and soothingly calmed the toddler down, helping him fall back asleep. She walked in the direction of the living room, seeing Five sitting on the maroon couch. "Hey, Dusky," He slightly smiled. "You know this guy?" Mary questioned Five's sudden arrival. "Mary, this is one of my brothers, Five. Five, this is Mary, and this little guy right here is James," Dusk introduced, bringing the sleeping boy into his view. "Here Dusk, I'll put him back in his crib. You two can sit and chat," Mary said, carefully prying her son out of her arms.

The raven sat next to him on the couch, it was silent for a moment before Five finally spoke. "I need you to get ready to go. There's something I need to show you," He said. "Oh no, please don't tell me this is something bad. It's bad enough we have to deal with you know what in... how many days from now?" "Six days," Five clarified. Already? Damn, time does fly by fast. "I'll come, but can you please tell me where we are going?" Dusk asked worriedly. Five looked down for a moment before taking in a slow deep breath.

"We're having a family meeting,"