Mmm... what is this? Gravel? Klaus groggily looked at his surroundings, discovering he was no longer in the hotel, but instead on what appeared to be a gray beach. As he lifted himself from the ground, his hand immediately went to his chest, searching for the harpoon wound. But when he looked down, he realized that it was gone, meaning he came back to the place he went plenty of times before. The ring of a bicycle bell only confirmed his suspicions, as he looked up to see the little girl dressed in old clothes and a hat staring down at him. 

"Oh great, you again. So, to what do I owe the pleasure this time?" he grouched. But the girl said nothing, only continuing her lengthy stare. "Not talking, huh? I'm not in the mood for all your riddles and allegories, and sick little parlor games. Could you just point me in which way I'm supposed to go?" She pointed in the direction of the beach, though it was a long way from where Klaus was sitting. He got up from the ground, pushing past the tall grass.

Soon, he heard the sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline, meaning he had reached his destination. A stone path greeted him, leading to a tall metal door, another object that was oh-so-familiar to him. He walked up to it, pushing the door open, immediately spotting all the engravements on the stone. This wasn't just a random door leading him to nowhere. It led him to a mausoleum. What kind of snuff movie is this? As he looked down at the ground, he was stunned to see the eight-year-old version of him unconscious, surrounded by a pool of his own vomit.

"Hey hang in there, little me," he whispered. The sounds of footsteps approached from behind him. And out of the corner of his eye, he caught glimpse of his Dad stooping down to the little boy, talking into a voice recorder. "Experiment Number 73, cessation of life function at 12 hours and 22 minutes. Restarting the timer to reanimation," The stopwatch started ticking, and light slowly began to fill the room, taking Klaus somewhere else.

When the light faded, he found himself on top of a busy rooftop, full of teenagers sucking each other's faces off. He soon caught glimpse of the teenage version of himself, drunk out of his mind as he chuckled and joked around with some of his friends. The guests began chanting his name as he climbed onto the stone ledge, holding a giant liquor bottle. "Tonight, we drink to childhood trauma!" He toasted. Older Klaus's eyes widened as his past self's foot slipped on the ledge, plummeting him to the ground below, the sound of a car alarm followed.

As Klaus looked down at the ground, seeing the damage he had done to the car, he inhaled sharply, thinking it must've hurt. The light came back, this time taking him back to the present. He found himself back in the White Buffalo Suite, right before he was shot with the harpoon gun. "Come on, Stan. We gotta go see a man with a buffalo-" His mouth dropped as he watched himself get shot in the chest, his heart breaking at the anguished scream of his girlfriend.

"So, these weren't near-death experiences. These were actual death experiences," he came to realize. He walked towards his crying girlfriend as she held his body in her arms, believing he was gone and wasn't coming back. "Oh, Dusky..." He softly spoke, reaching a hand out to her. And though he knew she couldn't feel it, he hoped to see the relieved look on her face when he woke up, if he ever woke up.

~~~~~~~

"Aunt Dusk, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Stanley whimpered as the raven continued crying into her dead boyfriend's stomach. She had been sobbing for hours, not wanting to let go of him. She wanted him to wake up more than anything in the world, but just from the shot to his heart, part of her knew he was gone for good, but she refused to believe it. "Please say something... Anything!" Stanley pleaded.

But Dusk was still too in shock and in mourning to reply. When Klaus died, part of her soul died with him, and she felt lost. How would she be able to move on without him? How would she be able to tell her family about the tragedy that just occurred? How would she picture her future without him by her side? Stanley blinked away his tears, blaming himself immensely. He never wanted to harm his uncle, let alone kill him. Oh shit, Dad's gonna kill me! I have to do something!

He quickly ran out of the room, taking the elevator to the lobby. As soon as the doors opened, he saw his Dad, along with the rest of the family seemingly gathered for a meeting at the end of the staircase. Quietly as a mouse, he went around them, heading towards the nearby supply closet, hoping to find anything that would clean the mess. "Where's Klaus and Dusk?" Five questioned as he counted the rest of his family.

Unbeknownst to Stanley, Diego caught a glimpse of what he was doing with numerous bottles of chemicals tucked in his arms. "I'll be right back," he whispered to Lila before following the tween back to the White Buffalo Suite. As he made his way back, the bottles sloshing with every step he took, Stanley soon caught the sound of footsteps from behind him, instantly fearing it was Diego. He quickened his pace, hoping not to draw attention to himself.

"Stan! Stanley!" He whistled, finally getting the young boy's attention as he slowly turned to face him, desperately trying to hide the panic in his eyes. "What is all of this? Acid?" Diego questioned, pulling one of the bottles from his grasp as he inspected the label. "Uh... you told me to clean up my own mess. I just have to thank you for teaching me such a valuable lesson in personal responsibility," He responded, painting on a small smile.

But Diego wasn't buying it. He knew Stanley would never acknowledge anything he said, as he hadn't done that since Lila dumped him in Diego's lap. "Don't lie to me. What's really going on?" The Kraken squinted, noticing blood on Stanley's wrist. "You got blood on you. Come on, talk to me. I'm your dad." Stanley hesitated for a moment, he had hoped that he could handle this on his own. But now that Diego knew something was fishy, the plan flew out the window.

"Um... okay. But you gotta promise you won't be pissed," Stanley pleaded. Diego silently sighed before following Stanley back to the White Buffalo Suite. As they walked inside, Number Two was stunned to see Klaus lying on the floor surrounded by blood, Dusk still bawling into his stomach. "W-wha-what did you do?" Diego stuttered, crouching down, closing his brother's eyes.

"Nothing," Stanley shrugged. Biting back a sigh, Diego looked toward his grieving sister as she blew her nose into the sleeve of her sweater. "Dusk, I know it's hard for you, but tell me what happened," he whispered. "W-we were just looking around, a-and Stan p-picked up a harpoon gun and w-was playing with it, a-and then..." the raven immediately started crying again. Diego looked back at the chemicals the tween had gathered, his eyes widening as he realized what he was trying to get away with. "AND YOU WERE GONNA DISSOLVE THE BODY?!"

"I didn't know what else to do, okay? You guys were gonna hate me, and I'd have to go to prison, join a gang for protection, and end up in the hole!" Stanley sobbed. Dusk looked through her tear-filled eyes at the young boy, her heart breaking at his sobs. "We don't hate you, Stan. It's just... a shock," Dusk assured, sniffing at the end of her sentence. "All the stupid shit Klaus used to do. I used to think he could survive anything, and now... he's dead," Diego whispered.

As Dusk looked down at the only man she truly loved, she felt Stanley hug her side. "I'm so sorry, Dad and Aunt Dusk," He muffled. "So are we, buddy," She gently patted his back.