Chapter 5: The Flash of Tomorrow
The newly formed trio of Five, Vanya, and Eight became an unstoppable force in their secret training. They moved with a silent, coordinated efficiency that none of the other siblings could match. While Luther was lifting weights and Diego was throwing knives, this group was rewriting the very laws of physics in the mansion's dusty garage.
During one session, Five was explaining to Eight the concept of temporal friction. "Every time I jump, I'm creating a small, localized tear in the fabric of space-time. It's why I'm stuck in this body. The energy required... it's immense. You, on the other hand, are a living manifestation of that energy. You could, theoretically, tap into it."
Vanya stood by, her hands resting lightly on a wooden workbench. She could feel the low thrum of Eight's vibrations and the almost imperceptible hum of Five's spatial jumps. She was the one who could make their two very different energies harmonize.
"Okay," Eight said, closing his eyes. "Tell me what to do."
"Now, run," Five commanded. "But don't just run. Think of a memory. A moment from the future. A flash of what's coming."
Eight took off, a red streak blurring around the garage. He focused on Five's words, trying to recall something that hadn't happened yet. But his mind, unlike Five's, was a blank slate. He had never been to the future. His brain, however, was already a different kind of engine.
The speed began to feel different. It wasn't just physical anymore. His consciousness, usually tied to the moment, began to accelerate with his body. The world around him slowed, not just in perception but in actuality. The dust motes in the air hung perfectly still. The slow, rhythmic tick of a grandfather clock in the hallway became an impossibly long, drawn-out tick...
He wasn't just running fast; he was thinking fast. His mind was racing, processing data at a superhuman rate. In a fraction of a second, he replayed every conversation he'd had with his siblings, every lesson from his father, every calculation Five had scribbled on his chalkboards. The world presented itself to him as a stream of data.
And then, it happened. He saw it. Not a memory of the future, but a vision.
It was an explosion of brilliant white light. A flash so intense it burned everything to ash. The world, as he knew it, was gone. He saw his siblings, their faces etched with horror, caught in the blast. He saw Vanya, not in her adult body, but as a child, her eyes wide with terror. He saw the end of the world. He didn't just see it; he felt it. He felt the heat, the pressure, the silent, absolute nothingness that followed.
The vision was over in a microsecond, but for Eight, it felt like an eternity. He skidded to a stop, his feet burning against the concrete floor. He stumbled, collapsing to his knees, his hands shaking.
"Eight? What's wrong?" Vanya asked, rushing to his side.
Five, however, looked at him with an intensity that bordered on reverence. He knew the feeling. The sheer, soul-shattering weight of a future you can't escape.
"What did you see?" Five demanded, his voice low and urgent.
Eight looked up, his eyes wide with a newfound terror. "I... I saw the end. I saw the world explode. It was all... white."
Five's breath hitched. He had never told anyone about the apocalypse, not even the parts he remembered. The visions of a desolate future, a world of ash and ruins, had always been his burden alone. And now, Eight had seen it too, in an instant flash.
"You didn't just run fast, did you?" Five said, his voice a whisper. "You broke through the temporal barrier. You gained a new ability: speed thinking."
He knelt down, meeting Eight's gaze. "The vision... it was a memory from the future. A ghost of what's to come. This is a surprise, even to me. I've never seen anyone else do it."
Vanya, confused, looked between them. She couldn't understand the gravity of what had just happened, but she could feel the powerful, unsettling energy radiating from both her brothers. The air around them was thick with dread.
Five looked at Eight, a flicker of something close to wonder in his eyes. He had been alone for so long, the solitary prophet of a doomed world. But now, he had a partner. A brother who could not only keep up with him physically, but mentally. The apocalypse was coming, but for the first time, Five wasn't just counting down the days. He was calculating the odds. And with a brother who could think at the speed of light, those odds had just dramatically improved.
Do you want to see how this new ability changes their approach to saving the world, or do you want to explore how the other siblings react to Eight's new power?
The Vision and the Message
Eight's sudden collapse on the garage floor, his body shaking with a different kind of tremor, was a new kind of shock for Five. He had lived with the constant, grinding weight of the future, but to see it reflected in Eight's terrified eyes—that was a different kind of horror. Vanya knelt beside Eight, her hand on his back. She couldn't understand the temporal vision, but she could feel the raw fear and sorrow humming through him.
"Eight, breathe," she said gently, her voice a calm anchor. "It's okay. You're here now."
As Eight's shaking subsided, Five's mind raced. He had a million questions. What did Eight see? Was it the same apocalypse as his? What details did he pick up on? But he knew this wasn't the time for an interrogation. This was a moment for a pact.
He looked at Eight, then at Vanya. "No one else can know about this. Not Luther. Not Allison. Especially not Klaus." Five said, his tone was more of a command than a request. "What you saw, it's our burden now. All of ours."
A New Kind of Training
The next day, Five changed their training regimen completely. Instead of focusing on physical phasing, he began to work on mental exercises. He would hold up a complicated diagram of a theoretical machine or a dense equation, and Eight would close his eyes, running in place at a low speed. His mind would then accelerate, processing the information in a fraction of a second.
This new ability, speed thinking, was a game-changer. Eight could now grasp concepts that were once beyond his comprehension. He could solve complex equations faster than Five could write them. He wasn't just a force of nature anymore; he was a tactical genius in the making.
But the most surprising turn came when Five, in an effort to push Eight's new ability, held up a photo. It was a picture of a younger Klaus, sitting alone in a room, his eyes distant and haunted.
"Tell me what he's thinking," Five said.
Eight began to run, the sound of his feet a low hum. He looked at the photo, and in a flash of speed-thought, he saw it. Not just the physical image, but the emotional and mental landscape behind it. He saw the loneliness, the fear of the spirits, the crushing weight of a power Klaus never asked for. It was more than just a memory from the future; it was a profound understanding of his brother's pain.
He came to a stop, his face etched with a mix of sadness and determination. "He's... so alone," Eight whispered, his voice trembling. "He's terrified of the dead, but he's more terrified of being with the living."
The Unlikely Alliance
The newfound empathy shook Eight to his core. He hadn't just seen Klaus's thoughts; he'd felt them. He realized that for all his invincibility and speed, his brother was in a prison of his own mind. That night, Eight and Vanya found Klaus in the library, trying to read a book while subtly fighting the spirits.
Eight approached him slowly, without the usual chaotic blur. "Hey, Klaus," he said softly.
Klaus looked up, his expression a mixture of surprise and slight annoyance. "What's up, little brother? You here to break something, or just stand there and look menacing?"
"I... I can see what you're going through," Eight said, choosing his words carefully. "I've been working on my power, and I can... understand things now. I know what it's like to be overwhelmed by your own brain."
Vanya stepped forward, a gentle hand on Klaus's shoulder. "We're a team, remember? And no one fights alone."
Klaus stared at them, his usual sarcastic bravado replaced by a look of profound shock. No one had ever spoken to him like this. Not genuinely.
Eight, guided by his new speed-thought empathy, knew exactly what to say. "We can help you. We can show you how to control it. Not get rid of it, but... turn down the volume. Like a radio."
He and Vanya sat with Klaus for the rest of the night. Five watched from a distance, a ghost in the hallway. He saw Vanya, the family's supposed "zero," and Eight, the chaotic blur, working in tandem to help a brother they all had given up on. In that moment, Five realized that the apocalypse wasn't just about a bomb or a meteor. It was about the fractures in his family. And in Vanya and Eight, he had found the two people who could help him put the pieces back together