It happened in the middle of the night when they least expected it. The scream was loud and clear with its message: the person doing it was terrified. Footsteps thudded against the hardwood floors from all over the house, running into action as if this was a mission. In a sense it was and the end goal was to keep father from waking up or else there would be hell to pay…for Klaus.

"Go! Go!" Allison whispered loudly, beckoning for Luther to run upstairs and close their father's bedroom door while she ran down to help. She clambered down the stairs quietly as possible, meeting Diego as he exited his room. "Quick, make sure mother doesn't wake up! Hurry, Diego!"

Down the hall she could see two figures sliding across the floors at the speed of light and into the room where the screaming was coming from.

"Allison, he won't stop!" Vanya exclaimed as she rushed out of said room with wide eyes.

"Hush, Vanya!" Allison told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back into the room. Her eyes did a quick scan over the small bedroom until they landed on the bed where Klaus was squirming and kicking wildly, his screams muffled by the hand over his mouth.

"Stop it, Five!" Ben snapped, whacking his brothers hand away from their other brother so he didn't suffocate him.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Five snapped back, refusing to budge. "I'm not getting in trouble for this if Dad wakes up."

"Both of you stop arguing!" Allison told them, pushing Five away from the bed. She leaned over and shook her brother violently until his eyes opened. "Klaus, quiet! Be quiet!"

"No! No! They're here! Don't let them touch me!" Klaus screeched loudly, waving his arms around to push away whatever ghosts were haunting him. "Don't touch me!"

There was a creak from somewhere in the house and they all froze for a second before diving into action. Five grabbed Klaus' arms and held them down while Ben held him from behind and Allison leaned in to whisper into his ears.

"I heard a rumor," She said softly, her voice echoing in his ears. "I heard a rumor that you were going to stop making noise."

In an instant, Klaus shut his mouth and the last of the scream died into a small whimper before he stopped making noise at all, and trembled in fear in his brother's embrace.

"Really? You couldn't have told him to go back to sleep or tell him that he wasn't scared?" Five complained, moving away from his brother.

"Five, don't be mad," Vanya whispered, stepping forward into the room. "He's alright now. We should all get back to our rooms before Mom senses we're all awake."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Five scoffed, marching out of the room. He went across the hall to his own bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"Klaus, are you okay?" Allison asked, leaning down to put a comforting hand on his tear stricken cheek.

"Of course he's not okay," Ben said with a sigh, still holding his brother. "He will never be okay. Not after what Dad did to him. It's no wonder he's having these horrible nightmares."

"Its never been this bad though," Vanya said, glancing into the hallway where she could see Diego walking down towards the room. "I wonder if something happened."

"You're the one with Dad all the time," Ben pointed out, holding Klaus more tightly as Klaus burrowed his face into Ben's neck for comfort.

"Can I go back to bed now?" Diego demanded, appearing in the doorway next to Vanya. Allison looked at him and nodded, so he grabbed Vanya's hand and pulled her along with him. "Come on, Vanya. We have to get up in a couple hours."

"Yeah," Vanya whispered with a sigh, following him out. "And you need all the beauty sleep that you can get."

Allison snorted at the comment and turned her attention back to her two brothers. "Klaus, do you need help calming down or getting back to sleep?"

"I'll take care of him," Ben objected, shaking his head.

"Okay, then I'm going to find Luther and go back to bed. Come get me if you need anything," Allison said, leaning to kiss Klaus on the cheek. "Good night."

Ben let out his breath and shifted so that he could see Klaus better, but he wasn't happy with what he saw. His brother had always been pale, but right now he almost looked white as a ghost; but that was a horrible choice of words. His eyes were red from crying and his cheeks were sunken from lack of sleep.

Oh, Klaus," Ben sighed sadly, brushing the dark hair out of his brothers face. "What the hell did Dad do to you this time?"

Klaus closed his eyes and bit the inside of his lip, unwilling to share the cause of his nightly terror. He couldn't help but cry silently, clutching on tightly to his brother's hand for comfort. He could not put it into words how terrified he felt. Just thinking about his dream made a fresh wave of tears flow over and he clenched his eyes shut and willed away the horrible images that were flashing in his mind.

Ben looked at the small clock on the wall.

It was just past two in the morning, which meant there were a couple hours left before their mother would come wake them up. He glanced down at his brother, unwilling to leave him suffering like this.

"Scoot over," Ben whispered, nudging Klaus. His brother obliged and he scoot down to lay next to him, throwing his arm around Klaus' body and held him close. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."

Klaus nodded and took a deep breath, inhaling the soft scent that was his brother. He felt a little better knowing that Ben was there, but not safe enough to fall back asleep.