HOLLOW ━ klaus mikaelson × male!oc!

9.

Chapter Nine: 

When she does find her words, they are barely but a whisper, so quiet Zero wouldn't have heard them if he was entirely human; "He looks at you the same way he used to look at me." 

Those words echo inside Zero's head like a warning siren. A mantra that reverberates through him. His skin prickles, unfathomable heat sizzling across his body. Stomach twisting uncomfortably, Zero's swallows dryly. His throat and mouth suddenly feel too dry. There's a weird feeling coursing through him, like he's in the moment but is entirely somewhere else at the same time. Zero's going to be sick. He can feel it. 

"That's..." Zero lets out something between a laugh and a strangled choke. His eyes are stinging. God. Is he crying? He fucking hopes not. He stares past the blonde female, over her shoulders and into the street. "Good for you," Zero says, forcing the tone of his voice to be flat and levelled.

His chest tightens uncomfortably and burns harshly. It's never you, a voice whispers in the back of his head mockingly, it's always someone else. 

Zero sucks in a sharp breath. A shiver racks itself up his spine, his fingers go numb as cold sweat settles on the back of his neck. Suddenly it's too cold. He's too cold. It's like ice is steadily wrapping itself across his chest and spreading to every crevice of his body. 

"You'll be miserable because of him," the female insists. Her green eyes look watery from where Zero is standing. 

How can she, how can she look at Zero like that? How can she say that when she's the one who's making Zero feel miserable right now? Anger and frustration sparks within Zero and makes him clench his hands into tight fists. 

Something cracks underneath Zero's shoes, shoots out across the black ground and covers it in a thick layer of glistening ice. It rises from the ground, icicles forming in shapes bigger than dragon teeth as they reach the girl on the other side. 

"Stop!" Zero yells, just as the icicles encircle the female, pointing their sharp edges at her vitals. "Come back," he pleads, voice tethering over the edge of hysteria. She knows, the voice hisses at Zero, Monster, Monster, Monster—

The ice slowly backs away, blending back into the ground like it hadn't been there in the first place at all. Like it hadn't just sprouted ice out of nowhere, changed its shape and tried to attack someone. 

Monster. She knows. Kill her. Kill her. Kill—

Zero runs away from the scene like his life depends on it. He ignores the scrambled yell of, "Wait!" that hollers after him. He needs to hide. He needs to get his emotions under control. He needs to stop feelings like the ground has disappeared from beneath his feet. Like he's dropping several meters down, down, down into a dark abyss. 

Like he's stuck in a realm covered in sand, never to be rescued from his hollowness. 

——

Klaus eyes the rickety, brown door. It's Zero's. He knows, because Sherry had sent him along with directions and a tired smile. Most of the door's colour is chipped off, showing the light wood underneath it. Klaus raises his fist to knock, but the door suddenly cracks open. 

He barely gets a chance to see the person on the other side, but he does hear a clear and slightly raspy voice; "I know, I know. You want me to find Jesus. I already found him, thanks." And then the door is slammed closed right back in Klaus's face.

He blinks. Once. Twice. And thrice for good measure.

Was that Zero? Because there's the obvious scent of fruit in the air but... it's sort of... sour. Klaus scrunches up his nose and runs his hand underneath it. Frowning, this time Klaus actually knocks on the door.

For a moment, there's nothing. Klaus can hear Zero's heart beating, fast and unsteady. Fluttering. Shifting, Klaus knocks again, this time with a little more force. 

"Go away." Zero muffles from the other side of the door. 

"Sherry sent me," Klaus says, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket. He exhales out deeply and watches his breath swirl in front of his face like smoke. It's exceptionally cold today. "She wants to know why you won't answer her messages back." He adds, turning sideways as he takes in his surroundings. It's just like any old street in Mystic Falls, filled with barely standing houses and graying front porches. Tilting his head higher, Klaus eyes the icicles that are hanging from the rusty rooftop. Zero's house is the only one that has them. 

"You haven't been out in the past week," Klaus returns his gaze to the brown door. He takes a particular interest of joining up the parts that are light wooded, painting a picture inside his mind. He gets an awkward tree, like when one has been struck by lightning. Sleeping closer to the door, Klaus presses his forehead against the cool wood. "I'm worried," he murmurs. "Let me in.” 

Klaus hears a shaky intake of breath and then a quiet, almost whimpery, "Go away.” 

It makes his chest burn. It hurts. It actually hurts. Klaus places his hands flat against the door, "please," he pleads. Klaus never pleads. The word alone sounds foreign to his tongue. He needs the pain to stop. He needs to make sure Zero is okay. He needs to—

"Go away," Zero whispers.

Klaus curls his hands into fists against the door, his nails catching against the wood and chipping it even more. Rejection, he thinks. Utter rejection. 

The burn in his chest intensifies, curling around his dead heart like a vice grip. Something fiery, like hot, burning liquid travels through his veins. No, no, no, no, he needs to see Zero. 

"No," Klaus shakes his head, "not until you open the door and let me in.” 

There's nothing but a bitter laugh from Zero. 

It's the only answer he gets. 

//unedited.