Mara could still feel the burning sensation of the dust and smoke as she sat still on the cold floor even after all the fighting had receded.

She shouldn't be feeling this worried and anxious for a group of strangers. She was trained better than this.

She saw her two brothers, Leon and Alvi, walk up towards her, and she quickly picked herself up, shutting away her anxious thoughts and putting on her façade.

"What happened to you?" Leon held up a hand for her to take, "We barely saw you in the fight."

"We thought they took you or something." said Alvi, almost too nonchalantly for her liking, and continued to walk past her.

Mara paused, unsure if they would believe what she saw. Hell, even she doesn't believe it.

"I got occupied." she replied instead, grabbing her brother's hand and standing up. "Another terror flash."

Leon's expression softened.

"You're our only sister, Mara. You can't be strong all the time or you will get yourself killed." He rested a hand on her shoulder, "I wish you would tell us when your powers are acting up. We just want you safe."

"I know, Lee." Mara looked down, "I promise I'll tell you next time."

The older sibling exhaled heavily through his nose. He patted her shoulder a few times before walking away, trusting that she will look after herself more.

Mara slumped. She felt exhausted. The boy was more than she bargained for and the flash she received had taken a toll on her just as the other times she had touched someone.

Mara reached inside her jacket pocket and pulled out her gloves. She traced the linings with her thumb before putting them on, feeling the walls she had put up grow taller. The gloves made her feel more confident and sure of her actions, rather than always worrying where they were.

Matthew passed by her whilst eating an apple, "I thought you said no one can beat your ass."

Mara scoffed and tackled her brother to the ground as soon as he turned his back towards her. She pulled his arm back and firmly held his head in place in the floor where it belonged, the apple rolling a few feet away.

"I still am the best." Mara pulled tighter at his arm and moved closer to his ear, "Or at the very least, better than you."

"Number 0."

Mara heard the loud thump of her father's cane and she slowly stood up.

"I assume you have a good reason for pummeling your brother to the ground." Mr. Hargreeves began to stride towards her, his cane hitting the floor with a loud sound in every step. Intimidation was his strongest suit, and he wore it well. 

If Mara felt uneasy, she didn't show it.

"He questioned my skill as a Sparrow." Her brown orbs turned into a flash of red and it burned into her father's own furnace.

"Did he now?" Her father raised an eyebrow and tore his eyes away to look at Matthew, who took a step a back.

Mr. Hargreeves clicked his tongue. His reached up towards her face and took hold of her jaw, slightly squeezing her face together and making the cut on her lip bleed a bit more.

But Mara did not falter. She tried not to squirm in his hold and still managed to fire her burning gaze into his own.

Then he simply let go and turned away, the sound of his cane following along as is nothing even happened. "I hope to see that it never happens again."

The girl sighed, relief flushing through her body and her eyes returned to its normal shade. God, she needed a hot shower after this.

"You suck, Mar." Matthew huffed.

"Eat shit, Matt." Mara smiled sweetly and flipped him off, heading off to the direction of the showers.

She wondered up the flight of stairs, the nightmare still fresh on her memory. It would take her another three months to forget what she had just saw.

There was a reason she wore gloves and refused to take them off unless it was a matter of life and death. With just a brush of her fingers, she would be able to tap into the minds of her victims and see their the darkest fears  along with their past to make it work. She would then have the choice to make them relive their worst memories or bring their demons to life to haunt them. 

She was proud to have them. She became rebellious with her powers and used them with ease. That was until her father decided to keep her in an ice box to "help her be one with the darkness." She didn't even realize how long she had been kept inside until the next thing she knew, she was screaming at the sight of older men huddling around her, claiming to be her brothers.

Mara had locked herself in her room after that, refusing to come out and waiting for when she would open her eyes, she would be staring into the bright eyes and chubby faces of her siblings.

She would accept her reality and carry on a month later.

Absorbed in her own thoughts, Mara didn't realize she had bumped into Jesper. The blonde man looked her over with worried eyes and did a series of gestures with his hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Never better." Mara gave him a soft smile, signing back the words she spoke, "I didn't summon anything so it's not that bad."

Out of all of her brothers, Jesper was the one she was closest to and the only one she would let down her walls for. She owed him her life when he saved her from a threat on one mission that resulted into him being deaf. Even though he had repeatedly told her that it was never her fault, she still blamed herself.

Jesper gave her a knowing look and Mara knew he saw right through her. He always did.

Every action she used with her power had an equal reaction directed towards her. The cost of being able to summon those fears was the night terrors that came with it.

That time in the ice had developed her powers more than it should, to the point that the terrors would affect her as well. Her victims memories and pain would become her own, and Jesper knew just how much it tore off a piece of her every time she used her powers.

Jesper scrunched up his face and gestured with his hands tiredly, "My door is always open for you if you need it."

"Thank you, Jess." Mara gave him a hug and Jesper squeezed back before letting her go on her way.

In the bathroom, Mara had taken the effort of heating up the water. After waking up, she promised herself that she would never let her body be submerged in anything cold ever again.

Ben, who passed by the open bathroom door, took a second glance at his sister.

"Hey, Mara." He knocked, snapping her out of her daze.

"Ben."

The man coughed awkwardly and leaned on the sink, not letting his eyes to meet hers. "Do you think we've seen those guys before?"

"I don't recall." Mara sighed, slightly frustrated. "And I don't think I'm the right person you should be asking since I was stuck in the ice for almost ten years."

"Right." Ben chortled, but his grin faded when his thoughts sunk in. "I don't know, it's just that one of them kept talking to me like he knew me. He never fought back and just kept saying that we're brothers."

Mara kept silent, staring at the steam rising from the bathtub.

"I wasn't sure if he meant that we were so close as friends that we were like brothers or literally, but either way, he didn't feel like a threat at all."

"You think they really were just looking for something they lost?" Mara whispered, her voice just barely rising above the sound of the water dripping of the faucet.

"I'm not sure." Ben stared at the floor. "The rest of them seemed like a bunch of assholes though."

"As if you're not a asshole yourself." Mara scoffed.

"We're all assholes." He snorted, "At least I know when it's needed."

"Whatever dude." she punched his shoulder and pushed him out of the bathroom. "Now leave. I'm going to clean up."

Once she had submerged herself in the hot water, her muscles relaxed and let out a long exhale. Mara could already see the bruises forming from the prior fight and she groaned. She is going to wake up sore tomorrow morning.

Mara laid back further into the tub and wondered about the boy, tracing circles on the surface of the water.

When she saw the remnants of his past, she saw nothing but a hollow shell hardened by those who sought nothing more than to use him for their gain.

He found comfort in having a number for a name, because that's all he ever knew about.

Finding the right numbers for his spatial jumps. Marking his progress in a small notebook that he used to keep in a drawer. Counting his days of being alone. Reading down the list of dates he had to go to stall his time. Calculating the perfect time and place so he could go back and save his family, no matter the cost.

He thought of himself of nothing more than just a number because that's how he has been treated his whole life.

Five.

Mara found herself thinking the word over and over again. 

She wanted to forget it. Forget him.

Sentiments has no use in a life like hers.

But now the number five has a meaning, and she knew that he was just as lost and confused as the rest of his family.

They don't belong here. 

She clenched her pale hands.

Mara needed to find them before it's too late.