As we all entered the dining room for breakfast the next day, I couldn't help but notice how tired we looked. Although, I did think it was worth it.

I looked over the table and noticed that Mum had made us separate dishes, all of us had our favourite breakfasts, instead of the routine breakfasts we are used to. I looked down at my plate and smiled at the many pancakes stacked on my plate. On the side was a small jug filled with maple syrup and a small bowl filled with berries.

I looked over at Klaus' plate, which had a pile of waffles topped with butter and maple syrup. We both gave each other a cheeky grin, as we were all amazed at the unexpected surprise from Mum.

Dad soon emerged and gave us permission to sit down and start eating our breakfast. We all tried to eat it slowly, but our hunger made it difficult. Once we were all finished, Dad dismissed us but asked Klaus to stay back. I gave him a quick reassuring look as we all left.

I'll have to ask him what it was about later.

Since Dad had changed our schedules to be more power-focused, we were all informed that there were rules, we would have a certain number of hours of exercise per week, and if one of us didn't hit our target, our hours would increase. We still did have set training times with Dad and Pogo, this was going to range from group work, to paired work and to individual training.

As this was our first day on our new schedule I decided to head to the gym. After getting back into my room I changed into my exercise clothes which consisted of black leggings and a black top with our Academy's Crest on the left-hand side.

I opened my bedroom door and was greeted with a smirk from the one boy I was never in the mood to see or speak to.

Five.

I gave him a puzzled look.

What did he want? I bet he wanted to carry on our conversation from last night.

"Well, looks like someone is taking independent training to another level. I don't even think Luther's in the gym yet." Five snarkily said, barely making eye contact with me.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"What do you want, Five?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

I could see that ignoring his comment annoyed him a little, which made me slightly happy. His face then became serious before he spoke.

"I wanted to continue our conversion from last night."

I froze slightly, this was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Well, I want never gets. Now, if you'll excuse me," I said as I moved around him, "I'm going to the gym."

Before I could move away, Five grabbed my wrist and I was engulfed by the blue light. Once again I lost my footing when we landed but luckily this time I was able to catch myself without any help, looking around I noticed we were in my room.

I sighed heavily before turning to Five.

"What is your prob-"

"No, you are going to tell me exactly what's going on Charlotte. You can't just make a comment like that last night and expect no one to follow up on it," Five took a step closer to me and I slightly moved back, my feet hitting the edge of my bed.

"The others might not have thought twice about the words you chose, but me, I need to know." Five had a stern look on his face. It was hard to figure out what his goal was.

Why did he want to know so badly? We've both made it very clear that we both can't stand each other so this seems very out of character.

My silence seemed to have annoyed him further, I didn't know how but he managed to make his face look more stern than before.

"Charlotte, answer me."

"Why do you care? I would think you are the last person who would want to know."

Five kept his distance and his expression darkened slightly at my retort. He crossed his arms over his chest before speaking again.

"Who said I cared? I am simply just interested. I mean, you've been here what? Nearly a year and we still don't really know you."

I scoffed at his comment about the family not really knowing me.

"You mean you don't know me, I would say the others know me quite well, except for you and Vanya of course."

It was true, the rest of the family and I had a good dynamic, except for Five and Vanya, every time I tried to speak to Vanya she would just give me one worded answers or ignore me and Five, well he made it very clear that he didn't want to know me.

Seeing I had a point, Five's expression stayed the same.

"Vanya is a whole different story. The others seem to know the bare minimum. It's the basics that keep the peace. Nothing more." Five stepped closer to me slightly.

"I, however, am not satisfied with the basics. So tell me, what was so difficult about your childhood."

No matter how much I tried I knew there was no way of getting out of this. Five wanted to know and there would be no stopping him until he got an answer. Maybe it was for the best that someone knew, even if it wasn't in too much detail.

I sighed before opening my mouth.

"Well, my father divorced my mother when I was 6, he wanted to have custody of me but my mother refused and because of the nature of my birth there weren't any laws regarding my situation so I had to stay with my mother..." I paused, looking down at my feet knowing the next part was about to get dark. I could sense Five's eyes were locked in on my face.

"I would see my father now and again but then he remarried when I was 8 and completely changed... I never saw or spoke to him after that point. My mother on the other hand would not forget to remind me that this was my fault, that I'm the reason they divorced... she wasn't just mentally abusive but physically... that's why I am happy to be here, at least I am surrounded by people who I know care about me and at least I don't have to suffer alone and in silence anymore."

I took another pause before finishing, I was mad that Five had made me unload that information.

"So are you happy now? Have I fed your curiosity?" I looked at him, with a scowl on my face.

Five's expression darkened even more, he was clearly irritated.

"Yes, my curiosity is satisfied, but-" He paused before a cheeky grin appeared on his face before he chuckled.

"But I can't feel happy about winning a bet! Dramatic childhood for the win!"

My mood from earlier had now shifted to pure rage, I had just opened up to him after his persistent questioning and he's on about winning a bet!

"Five," I said, stepping forward, which made him step back.

"What is this bet you are referring to?"

Five seemed to completely ignore my anger as he raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk appearing on his face.

"Well, I told Vanya about what you said last night and well we decided to make a little bet... She said I couldn't get you to open up to me about your past and to make things interesting I bet that you had a really dark childhood and well Vanya guessed you didn't... I'm smarter than I thought!"

I could feel the anger consume me, and my hands started to spark with electricity, this caught Five's attention and he knew he had messed up massively.

"Oh come on Charlotte, don't do anything stupid, it was just a silly bet."

Before anything could happen I heard the intercom outside in the hall, it was Pogo speaking.

"Can Miss Charlotte please make your way to training room 9. That's Number 8 to training room 9."

The mention of my name snapped me out of my furious rage. I could tell Five was grateful that I was being summoned to do independent training.

As I grabbed my blazer before heading out of the room I turned to Five, anger still in my eyes.

"That Five Hargreeves will be the last time you get the better of me and the last time I hold back." Before I could hear or see any reaction I slammed my door shut, leaving him inside my room.

It was my first time in training room 9 and I hoped it would be my last. It was a small room with a low ceiling, but not enough to make you feel claustrophobic. The floor and walls were all black tiles and there was a little observation room where Pogo was sitting, sorting something out.

"So Number 8," Dad began, notebook in hand, "after much consideration, I have decided that you will receive a different kind of training to the others. This must not be discussed with any of the others, do you understand?"

A puzzled look crept onto my face, it was a bit strange that he didn't want me to discuss this with any of the others.

"I understand, although, why me? Why not Number 1 or even Number 6?" I feared that I had asked too much, but Dad seemed to be happy to answer.

"I have chosen you simply because of your ability, it is far more complex than the others and requires more attention. With the right training, you could be invincible Number 8. Although the others are definitely strong in their own way, there is something different about you and after doing research and watching over you this past year nearly, this seems to be the right call." He left a small pause.

It was a little difficult not to feel a little special, and it was understandable why he didn't want me to tell the others based on this. But if I knew Dad, this training was not going to be easy.

"Right, our first session starts now." He spoke after moving into a side room where Pogo was waiting for him.

As the door closed the lights in my part of the room turned blue, a gurgling noise filled the room and I started to look around, my senses on high alert.

"Right Number 8, we are going to be testing to see if you can breathe underwater, whether that be naturally or by forming an air bubble to provide you with oxygen."

Wait, did he just say what I thought he just said? Great, I am going to die. I am going to die on my 13th Birthday.

I looked down at my feet and saw they were already underwater. I definitely knew that breathing underwater was not a power I possessed. I wanted to shout, I wanted to scream for help, try and reason with him to make him understand this was something I couldn't do.

As I was trapped in my thoughts the running water had now reached my hips, I was running out of time and options.

Should I just attempt and possibly die? Or reason with him?

I looked over to the booth and saw both Pogo and Dad talking and jotting information down. I looked to see where the water was flowing from, maybe I could plug up the pipe?

I frantically looked around, the water now up to my chest. My heart sank as I saw multiple pipes that were filling the room with water, some from the ceiling and some from the bottom of the wall.

I was screwed.

"Get ready Number 8, you'll be fully immersed in 2 minutes." Dad's voice filled the room with no emotion behind it.

I was now up to the ceiling and started taking in big deep breaths. It would be any second now, I needed to decide what my plan was, try or die.

1...2...3...

I was now fully underwater, I managed to keep my eyes open, even though they stung a little at first.

I had decided to try.

I concentrated as much as I could to try and form an air bubble but no matter how much I tried nothing was working.

"Come on Number 8! You must try harder." There his voice echoed again, it sounded weird underwater.

I had lost count of how long I had been under now but I could feel the lack of oxygen getting to me, my eyes starting to close slightly and my body naturally wanted to breathe in, it took all my strength not to listen to my body but eventually, I failed.

Well, at least I tried.

My back was now against the ceiling and I was gasping for air, I started to cough as I was consuming water rather than air, and a burning sensation took over my body. I then realised what was happening to me, I was drowning. With no signs of this ending, I welcomed the darkness that was calling out to me and slowly closed my eyes fully.

"Charlotte?" A familiar voice called out to me.

I opened my eyes as if awakening from a deep sleep. I was still wet but couldn't exactly remember why. Looking around I noticed I was in a dark room, it had stone walls and the atmosphere was cold. I turned around to see where the voice was coming from.

It was Klaus.

"Klaus? Where am I?" I stepped closer to him but I felt a pressure keeping me back. Klaus' expression scared me, his eyes were showing disbelief.

"No this can't be..." He muttered to himself.

"Klaus what are-"

"Charlotte, you cannot be dead!" His words shot through me like a dagger.

Was I really dead?

"How can this be? What happened to you I need to know!" Klaus demanded, I had never seen him so scared.

"Klaus... I have no idea..."

As Klaus stepped towards me, he sighed. As he reached out to touch me there was a flash of white and a ringing in my ear. All I could feel was discomfort and pain. Wherever I was, I was cold, wet and lying on an even colder floor. My throat felt rough, I could even taste blood.

Managing to open my eyes I saw the bright light above me and noticed three shadows, as my eyes adjusted I realised it was Mum, Dad and Pogo. Dad of course was writing furiously into his notebook, glancing at me now and again. My attention was drawn to Mum who was talking to me and checking if I was okay.

All I could hear was ringing in my ears, so I couldn't make out what she was saying. Once again the darkness called for me, but this was different from before.

As I closed my eyes and fully relaxed, I realised something.

I had beaten death.

Five Fact: When he saw Charlotte get furious at her finding out about the bet, he indeed did get a little scared.

A/N: Hey guys! I really enjoyed writing this chapter! I felt like it had a bit more action to it. The fact that Five was only asking for a bet though is definitely not a vibe 🙃

QOTD: What is your favourite episode of Season 1? I can't decide between episode 1,2,5 and 6 😂

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