ONE NUMBER ONE RULE

     Unsurprisingly, managing the Hargreeves was not an easy job. Of course, Vincent had to be responsible for the seven children adopted by an eccentric billionaire who wanted to turn his mutant kids into superheroes. That meant a lot of death and fatal incidents Victor had to help them avoid. Early on, Vincent realized these kids each had their own ability (Except Number One, Vincent really wasn't that sure what Number One did) and that made his job an absolute pain in the ass. Still, as most children do, they grew up. Things seemed to take a turn when Vincent had to let Ben (as his "mother" had named him) die. Vincent never liked killing them young, even if he wasn't fully young, he knew a parent should never outlive their children. However, the worst part was that Ben's father, Reginald Hargreeves, couldn't have given less of a shit.

"He gave a two-minute fucking speech, can you believe that shit?" Vincent had ranted, sputtering to Evangeline who watched with a quiet sorrow. She had liked Ben, but both of them had known he wasn't going to last long. "His son is fucking dead and he doesn't even care. God, even I know these kids deserve better."

Still, fourteen-years-later, those kids had grown into their lives by now. They were no longer named by their numbers or measured by their abilities, they were adults in the real world now, mostly separate from their poor excuse of a father's whims. Vincent knew their individuality wouldn't last long, though, because the time of Reginald Hargreeves was soon to come to an end. Before that though, the children were mostly living their own lives. Luther was on the moon following a mission from his father that in Vincent's opinion seemed utterly useless, but he wasn't much of Vincent's problem since nothing could really kill him on the moon. Diego was living out some vigilante fantasy since he had an affinity for knives and doing the right thing even if it meant intense dedication and breaking a few laws. He was a harder case for Vincent since he was pretty much the definition of an idiotic martyr, but whatever, he wasn't going to get killed during a routine break-in, Vincent could manage that much. Allison was by far the most successful, putting her past and her abilities behind her as she had a struggling marriage and an adorable daughter along with a notable career. In sharp contrast, Klaus was by far the worst. Ever since he had grown up and gone his own way from the family, he had been the hardest for Vincent to deal with. An addict who held his own life with no regard for fear of death. He didn't care if he put himself in danger so long as he found his next high. He was in rehab now, thanks to a close call that Vincent had to take care of, but he knew it wasn't going to last long. Just once he wanted Klaus to not be a problem and so far, the thirty days of rehab were a blissful vacation.

There was something strange about Klaus, though. It seemed at times that he could almost hear Vincent. It only seemed to happen when Klaus was sober, but that made sense considering he could only hear or see the ghosts when he wasn't high. However, Vincent wasn't a ghost. He wasn't dead. He was death. There's a difference.

The other curious case was Number Five. He had never named himself, but Vincent had nicknamed him Twerp because that was exactly how he was. Still, he had disappeared to a post-apocalyptic world some years ago, but he worked for the Commission occasionally. The Handler appreciated his assassin work, but him working for the Commission meant Vincent didn't have to watch him so he really didn't give a shit about where the man was once he wasn't on Vincent monitors.

Vanya was arguably the most boring. She had incredible abilities when she was younger, but Reginald had feared her and suppressed them for years all while making Vanya forget the entire thing. It was a little ridiculous, Vincent thought. Why adopt superhero kids if you can't handle the fact that they're superheroes? Still, he couldn't insert his own opinion into situations like this, his job was simply to save lives and to end them. She played violin now, that was all she did, which Vincent didn't mind. He liked to listen to her music amidst the chaos from his other subjects.

"Voice in my head, are you real? I can see the others, I can't see you," Klaus's voice interrupted his mundane afternoon of making sure no one died. They were about a week out from the death of Reginald Hargreeves and about two weeks away from the death of... well... everyone in the world.

The Reapers were all a little nervous about the apocalypse. They hadn't been told anything explicitly about it, but the departments talked amongst each other and they started realizing something was up when every new subject born had the exact same death date. They were mainly nervous because, well, if everyone died, they were out of a job. The earth's expiration date was theirs as well. Vincent was trying not to think about it, but in all honesty, he wouldn't mind. He had been doing this for so long, he was a little sick of being immortal and all-seeing. He didn't mind his conversations with Klaus, though.

"I'm real, just not in the way you think," Vincent sighed. He hadn't told anyone Klaus could hear him except for Evangeline, but even he knew he couldn't tell Klaus who he really was. "You're not schizophrenic if that's what you think."

"That's what everyone else thinks," the man scoffed. He was laying in bed in rehab, staring up at the ceiling. This was something he did fairly often. "My roommate is staring at me right now. Fuck off, Ted."

Victor snorted at this, "I'm just one of the ghosts."

"No, you're not," Klaus retorted, causing the Reaper to raise his eyebrows slightly at the callout. "I'd be able to see you then. I can see all of them, there's been some that don't speak, but there's never been one I can't see. So, you're a voice in my head and you're a liar. Not surprised."

"Don't worry about what I am," he rolled his eyes, tuning out the man's next words as he rolled over to Evangeline's cubicle. "Anything interesting over here?"

"Hm, yes! Look, look, Harriet's giving birth, ugh, good for her. I hope I get her daughter, too, that'd be cute, but I'm pretty full so I doubt they'll give me to her," Evangeline sighed, "still, not like it matters."

Victor shrugged, "I never liked kids, but I feel bad watching them be born when they're just gonna die in like two weeks."

"Ain't that the name of the game," the woman muttered with a small sigh, looking over her monitors with a defeated expression, "You talking to Klaus again?"

"Yeah, it's fun messing with him while he's in rehab, normally he tunes me out along with all the others, but now he has no choice," the man explained as he yawned, stretching out his arms as he shot a quick look at his monitors, making sure there was no mortal danger before returning to the conversation.

"Dude, like our number one rule, is to not get directly involved in their lives, what do you think you're doing? We're only really supposed to talk to them if it's an absolute emergency, and even then we have to take the forms of other people," Evangeline chastised as she often did. She had a point, it was rare that Reapers had to materialize, but when they did, it was usually as a doctor trying to tell someone to watch their cholesterol or as a therapist telling someone not to take their own life. Mundane stuff. Reapers weren't allowed to walk to earth or approach their subjects as themselves. However, most subjects don't see and talk to ghosts, either. So, Vincent bent the rules a little bit. He had to keep himself entertained somehow.

He disregarded her as he did every time, "He just thinks I'm one of the voices, it's really not a big deal."

Evangeline scoffed and shook her head, "Whatever, your funeral. Aw, look, the baby's here!"

"Gross," Vincent mumbled before swiveling back to his own cubicle where Klaus was still talking to himself.

"Hello? Hello?" Klaus was mumbling now, "Ugh, shut up, Ben, I'm sick of your shit."

Klaus was the only one who could still talk to their deceased sibling on account of his abilities, but it seemed like they were on rocky terms these days. Vincent couldn't see or hear Ben, but it seemed like he tried to be the voice of reason in Klaus's drug-fueled mind. So, it seemed like he and Vincent were at least on the same page.

"Don't be mean to your brother," Victor tsked, causing a groan to emit from Klaus's lips.

"God, the last thing I need is two people telling me what to do. Get me out of here," he whined, rubbing his eyes, "I wanna see you. If you're really one of the ghosts, I should be able to see you so let me see."

"Not happening," Vincent sighed, "just believe me."

"Lame," the man mumbled, closing his eyes as he opted to sleep rather than listen to Vincent or Ben's bullshit. Vincent couldn't blame him, really, it must be exhausting seeing and hearing random dead people all the time. He still didn't approve of his methods of deterring the ghosts, still.

Vincent just chuckled to himself, whispering a small, "Goodnight, Klaus."