Who: Klaus Hargreeves and Kaldur Where: A sea cave When: Nov 25 What: A break, a heart-to-heart, and even a few smiles. Rating/Warnings: SFW Status: Complete
Klaus lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the cave. There were a few openings in the roof that allowed shafts of light inside, reflecting on the pool of water in the center and creating dazzling patterns all over the rock formations. They didn't have long before the sun would be down, so for now he was enjoying the light show while also trying to get up the energy to move after the large dinner they'd had. He really hadn't had any idea what to expect for this adventure above and below the water, but sashimi to die for hadn't even occurred to him. He was never going to be able to go back to his normal diet.
"Are we close to where we were yesterday, or no? I don't know how you sea people do it. I can barely keep up with directions in two dimensions." His head flopped sideways, and he grinned at his companion. "But still no ghostly visitors. Do you guys have a naturalization process?"
Nearly a year in this world, cut off from his world and everything he knew, and Kaldur knew his magic was rusty. Having to sustain the spell that kept Klaus safe underwater was beginning to wear on him, but it was good exercise as well. Some deep instinct told him he'd need his magic sooner rather than later, even while he prayed he was wrong. These nights close to the surface and the shore helped, but more than that, he was happy to have been able to do this for his friend, to bring him some measure of peace.
His chuckle filled the cave as he moved onto his side and shrugged a shoulder. "If Atlantis were actually in this world, there are a number of ways, easiest among them being marriage, of course. There are spells to make the changes to your physiology more permanent, but I am afraid they are beyond my knowledge."
Kaldur smiled and looked back at the watery light fading around them. "We are close to where we were last night, along the same coastal area. Is there somewhere in particular you would care to go, friend? We need not travel simply by my whim."
"Being a green card bride always sounded so exotic and exciting. I could go for that." As far as Klaus was concerned, the existence of Atlantis was a relatively small thing in this conversation. Any more excitement than he'd had already, being underwater for extended periods of time, and he might have joined the ghosts himself. Or at least gotten to have another thrilling conversation with dear old dad in the afterlife. "Maybe if I ask the portal nicely, someone will show up who can."
He sat up, not because he precisely wanted to, but because the light was dimming enough that this made it easier to see Kaldur. He stretched his bare legs out in front of him, starting a subtle stretching technique with flexing his feet and toes. "Everything I learned about world geography I promptly forgot after the lesson was done. You could tell me we'd gone to a secret private island off the coast of Bora Bora, and I'd believe you, even if we were actually off Coney Island. Where do you want to go? We can even stay in one place, if you like. You've already spoiled me."
After a moment's reflection, Kaldur found the question didn't hurt nearly as much as it would have had this been a year ago, when he was still unknowingly working for HYDRA. He closed his eyes and let a shudder go through him. The idea that anything he might have done while in their employ may have led to someone being injured was one that weighed heavily on his mind when it surfaced. He gently pushed this thought aside and looked to Klaus again, smiling faintly. "Have you ever been to Tumbalen in Bali? It has a beautiful coral reef and places to stay on the surface that are supposed to be quite nice. How far did you travel in your world? What sort of sights did you see?"
"I can't say that I have. It sounds magical," Klaus said, rolling forward onto his knees and then to his stomach, propping his chin on his hand in clear interest. He wiggled a little to get a rock protrusion to not stick in his rib quite so annoyingly. "I've done a lot more time traveling than I've done actual traveling if you don't count the war, which was really both, but no one goes to the trenches on holiday." He breezed right past that topic, because the faster he did, the less he felt it. "I've hit places in the US, probably a fair few I was too high to remember. I think I did Cancun once? Because frat boys do things they're not proud of on spring break." He grinned, drumming his fingers on his cheeks. "But I've definitely never traveled like this. You seem experienced."
Kaldur enjoyed seeing his friend more at ease, and could even admit to himself that he had grown past his own homesickness and into loneliness. Many attempts were made to be more companionable, but he found he was more inclined to stay close to what was familiar—the exceptions being his present company and his Arthurian companion. He set these maudlin thoughts aside in favor of turning on to his stomach to face Klaus and give him a half-smile of real mirth. "I do not know much of frat boys and their spring break, aside from the media my team would show me during our down times. Surely such activities were exaggerated for fictitious comedy's sake?"
He lifted a shoulder again. "I have experience, but I would not call myself experienced. There is much of the surface world that still baffles me, but more yet below that remains unexplored. And this does not begin to cover your experiences with time itself. What was it like to be tossed to and fro through the time stream? This is what your brother Five is able to do, yes? I confess, I have never encountered a being with his power."
"You would think that, but I've seen things," Klaus said with mock surprise. Then, because he actually liked Kaldur, he added in a rare serious tone, "It's a bunch of drunk college kids doing what drunk college kids always do, but in exotic locations with even less supervision. It's a lot sloppier than the movies would have you believe, a lot more passing out and puking in corners, that sort of thing. But then, those were my passing out and puking in corners days, so I guess I fit right in."
He was curious whether the sheer scale of the ocean made the area they'd traversed seem lesser by comparison, but he could accept it was something he might never understand. Unless that citizenship offer came up in the future. "Imagine being hog-tied in the waves in the middle of a hurricane. Multiple it by ten, and that's about what time travel feels like. Five has always been great at the powering, not so much at the controlling. Considering we grew up in a so-called school for so-called heroes, Dad wasn't so good at the teaching part."
Throughout their trip, Kaldur had done his best to give his friend as much physical distance as he could when not guiding him or performing the spell that allowed him to breathe underwater. Yet as Klaus opened himself up more, he found this resolve slipping. His hand was inching out and didn't stop until it awkwardly hit the side of his companion's arm and then slid over top of it. The tilt of Kaldur's mouth pulled into a slight twist of understanding. "I do not know a single person worth knowing whose past is pristine. We did not do much of this frat drinking and unfortunate corner-ing, but there are plenty of plants and underwater phenomenon that didn't exactly encourage clear headed decision making. And I most definitely made choices based on my heart instead of my head on many occasions."
He made another face and shuddered through his shoulders and back. "You paint a most vivid picture. I cannot say I would find the experience enjoyable in the least. But I do know something of having difficult or lackluster teachers. They do not making the learning experience an easy one." Kaldur chuckled and turned his head to lean his head on the forearm that wasn't extended. "Alas, we cannot change the circumstances that made us, however much we might wish it so. I would not be me without my own, and you would not be you, and I would be sad to have never made your acquaintance."
A brief pause, and then he went on quietly, "When I found the abandoned HYDRA base, I felt the worst sort of longing. I had a purpose before I knew what I was being used for, and I miss that. Unfortunately, you are not the only one plagued by demons, Klaus."
As tactile as he was himself, Klaus was a little surprised when Kaldur casually touched him. He'd sort of assumed that wasn't how his friend worked, which he could respect. "Oh, I wouldn't call it my past. More like, my other life." They could all say that in some way, considering most of the people in their community were transplants from other universes, but even in his world, there were distinct separations between portions of his life. "I didn't really get semi-mostly-somewhat-sometimes clean until the 1960s, which is technically before I was born and thus more past." He grinned, both because he enjoyed the verbal conundrum of it, and because those past-future things felt far more distant than they once had. He would have given his cult some bullshit talk about running from your future, etcetera, but to Kaldur he only added, "Now I'm imagining you drinking illicit water-plant tea and hitting the beach naked on a whim." He chuckled, rearranging his arms so he could place one hand on top of the other man's. "But really, fuck the past."
He knew something of the other's past from previous conversations, but the whole HYDRA thing still seemed this nebulous Big Bad in his head. Maybe (probably) that was him being sheltered in his very much non-superheroic life here, but he liked that these things weren't his battle. He'd leave that up to his Honorary Number One and his cohorts. "I'm pretty sure I've never had a purpose." It was a half-truth, but one he believed most of the time. He'd spent too much of his life flitting around based on whims and outside forces that he didn't really know how to live any other way. "Is that why you're out here now? Looking for a new one?"
"Try the kelp forests, and you've got a clearer picture of my misspent youth." Kaldur's mouth twitched—was he kidding, or was he merely bemused by his friend's twisting narrative? Either way, from beneath Klaus's hand, he moved his thumb lightly against his forearm in silent sympathy. Maybe not understanding, but he could at least follow the thread of his companion's convoluted history—enough to know it had been difficult. The last sentiment startled a laugh out of him, and he inclined his head. "Indeed. I have to believe we are far more than what came before."
He wasn't sure why the question caught him up, but Kaldur had to sit with it for a moment. "Perhaps. I cannot say it was a conscious motivation. Not so long ago, I was involved with a plot to bring down my birth father—the criminal known as Black Manta, but events spiraled far beyond my control and I must admit once it was done, I retreated beneath the waves much like now. I…do not enjoy being at loose ends, but I have not yet found what I am looking for down here." He sighed and tucked his face into the crook of his arm. "I apologize. This is not why I offered to bring you with me. I am supposed to be taking your mind off the surface world."
"No, you brought me here to get away from the ghosts of New York, and I've seen exactly one since leaving. Thus mission successful, ding ding!" Klaus did his best imitation of video game scoring sounds, complete with one-handed motions that were supposed to represent the little fireworks you got for finishing levels on classic Mario games. Probably lost on Kaldur for both his age and relative inexperience with such things, but it amused Klaus, and sometimes that was all that mattered. When he lowered his hand again, he rested it briefly on the back of Kaldur's head. He didn't know if it was as comforting as intended or just weird, so he let it fall to the other's shoulder instead. "No judgment from me. We've all got our own ways of coping. At least yours has beautiful sights and plenty of exercise involved. Mine...." He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Not sure what mine is anymore."
The awkward head pat earned Klaus an amused look over the top of his arm. If nothing else, Kaldur appreciated the well-meaning sentiment, but confusion pulled his mouth down. "When did you see a ghost? If I have failed in my endeavor, you must allow me to make it right." He shrugged the shoulder that wasn't occupied by Klaus's hand, which was awkward given that he was still on his stomach. There was so much about his life under the waves that he took for granted, but he wouldn't have called it easy by any means. Yet he knew that it was a constant and consistent source of hope for him; it had to be difficult to not have that kind of proverbial net to fall back on. "If you could use anything available to you that wasn't deleterious to your wellbeing, what would it be? There are a great many things we could try, both above and below. You have been a good friend to me. I wish to return your kindness."
"Not the last beach, but the one before that. But she barely counts, because she kept her distance and didn't talk to me. I almost didn't realize she was a ghost, but the large chunk missing from her side was a dead giveaway. Pun intended." Klaus patted his friend's shoulder, this one far more playful than it was awkward. "Let's not start keeping tallies, because I will inevitably eventually owe so much making up that I can't ever catch up. If I didn't prefer being here to being home, I'd be home." There was the little question of how he'd get home from out in the middle of the ocean, but that was beside the point.
He couldn't help laughing at Kaldur's latest question, because the answer sprang so immediately to his mind. "Sex, obviously. But that's not exactly a return of kindness sort of thing. And like I said, I don't need returns. What I've got, you can have, my friend. Free of charge."
Kaldur cringed at the image he was provided, but fair was fair. He'd asked, after all. Living in the deep and doing what he'd done left him no stranger to death and what the ocean could do to a body, but to hear it laid out so frankly made his stomach sink. He also knew from personal experience that offering sympathy for someone's innate abilities hardly ever went well, so all Kaldur did was gently squeeze his arm and then smile dryly at him. "Fair. Then the board is clean, and I am glad to have your company."
The dark of the cave kept his flushed face from being seen—at least he hoped. Really, he should have expected such a reply, but it still caught him completely off guard. Kaldur ducked his head behind his arms and then abruptly rolled onto his back with a huffed laugh. It seemed the wiser course of action, since it kept him from having to see the expression on his companion's face as he confessed, "It has been a long, long while since I have sought such a distraction. Not since I was brought to this place."
A sudden strange sensation roved over his skin, making him shiver and pulling his thoughts away from someone he'd left behind. When he glanced down, the waning light caught on a deep orange that shocked him to his core. "What? The King's colors?"
Klaus grinned, because he liked making Kaldur laugh that way, like he hadn't expected Klaus to say something funny—which was even more hilarious, because he prided himself on always being funny. "The dry period is sad, but real," he said by way of agreement. "Not that I've really looked. Which, okay, is weird and I should fix that. When did I become old and boring?" Mostly, he was more content than he'd ever been with his lot in life, which was strange, considering. "I don't want to be Five." He pouted.
He blinked, wondering briefly if he had gotten into some of his friend's kelp and hadn't realized. "Dramatic wardrobe change! And here I am unprepared for the party."
Any question and then realization that Klaus was, in fact, not talking about his age fled from Kaldur's mind as he quickly got to his feet and performed a rudimentary spell that would light up the sea cave for several minutes. The pale green of it danced over the gold at his shoulders that wrapped around his arms. It had all the appearance of steel, but moved like fabric, like a second skin when he stepped away and went through a couple of the battle stances he'd learned from Dinah. "A gift from the portal?" He frowned at the idea and touched his stomach lightly. "From this far away? It does not seem possible, but how else does one explain its existence?"
He looked over at Klaus and gave him a rueful smile. "The king of my people wore something similar to this when he was among his teammates on the surface. It… pains me to think why it should now be mine. I must trust that it means he passed the mantel on to me, and not the dark alternative that my mind continues to hew towards."
Klaus stood, too, because it seemed like the thing to do and because it gave him a better look at the other's new gear. He was glad for the explanation, because he didn't see anything particularly odd about the costume except for its sudden appearance. His eyebrows went up. "Dark alternative? I hate to break it to you, but the only dark thing I see about you is your taste in resting spots." He gestured to the cave around them as he approached. This time he rested a hand on each of Kaldur's shoulders. He looked him up and down, taking in the new colors up close. "It's a good look for you. I'm not much for signs and predictions, but even I can recognize a good omen when I see one."
Another laugh was startled out of him, and Kaldur came very close to tipping his forehead into his friend's before thinking better of it. "Forgive me—both for our accommodations and my maudlin turn of mind. Even before arriving here through the HYDRA portal, my life had been an… interesting one. I fear it is easier for me to believe in foul play and potential regicide than merely an early retirement for my king."
He put his hand on one of Klaus's and smiled at him. The disquiet wasn't gone, but abated slightly. If nothing else, Kaldur was glad to have a friend with him to talk him down. "I will take you somewhere more pleasant, where there is sunlight and starlight and perhaps someone amenable to assist with your 'spell'. And once we have had our fill of surface delights, a return to your family and our lives with our friends?"
Klaus pushed at Kaldur's shoulder in a semblance of a playful shove. "I'll forgive you if you stop asking for forgiveness. The trip is great, you're great, we're great. Most relaxing vacation I've ever taken except for all the swimming bits." Not that he'd taken a lot of vacations in general. That involved being employed. "Chin up and smile! I hear that's healthy on occasion."
He raised an eyebrow. "Our friends? As in you're coming back, too? Because all the rest, sure, but that part sounds the best." They were enough past Halloween now that the ghosts should have died back down to normal levels, and he did, much as he hated to admit it, miss his brothers. But it would have felt wrong to go back without Kaldur. "What sort of surface delights did you have in mind?" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Indeed." Kaldur tilted his head forward in confirmation, and then smiled very slowly. "Wait and see, my friend. Wait and see."