The Voices in Her Head (No. 8)

III

"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" Diego yelled, hitting Luther's chest.

Katrine could tell that Luther's patience was thin as he smacked Diego's hand away and swung. Diego dodged and in return, punched Luther.

The girls stepped backwards and the two older girls pulled Grace away.

"Boys. Stop this at once!" Pogo cried.

Diego and Luther ignored him and continued fighting. "Come on, big boy!" Diego taunted.

Luther raised a hand to punch Diego, but he ducked and managed to hit Luther numerous times on his back.

Diego moved closer to Ben's statue. Luther raised another hand to punch him, but Diego moved at the last second. His punch hit the statue and his strength caused Ben's metallic head to fall to the ground.

"And there goes Ben's statue." Allison muttered.

Katrine fell to the ground and covered her ears, trying to drown out their thoughts running through her head. Unfortunately, it wasn't working.

Five rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this. Come on, Kat."

He placed an arm around his sister's shoulders and took her inside.

✫--✫

17 Years Ago

"Nietzche once said, "Man is a rope, stretched between the animal and the superhuman. A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and haltering.""

Sir Reginald Hargreeves stood at the top of the stairs whilst holding a book. Vanya stood beside him with a whistle around her neck.

The other seven siblings stood at the foot of the stairs and looked up. They each had matching green tracksuits on.

Vanya blew the whistle and they started running up the stairs.

A quarter of the way up, Five spatial jumped to the second set of stairs. Diego pouted. "That's not fair. Five's cheating!"

"He's adapted." Hargreeves replied.

Halfway up the second flight of stairs, Katrine focused her attention on Luther. 'Trip'

He tripped and frowned, not realizing it was his six-year-old sister's fault.

The other siblings started tripping and Diego glared at his little sister. "Stop it."

Hargreeves smirked subtly. "She's adapted as well, Number Two. Very good, Number Eight."

Ultimately, Five won, Katrine came in second, Klaus and Ben got third and fourth, and the remaining three got fifth through seventh.

"So not fair." Diego mumbled.

Katrine tapped him and he looked down at her. "I'm sorry I beat you."

He smiled. "It's okay. That was clever, using your powers to your advantage."

✫--✫

Katrine closed her eyes tightly as the needle entered her skin. She called out for her brother. "Diego?"

Diego came, hearing his little sister's call. He held her right hand as she got her tattoo. He couldn't watch, but he held her hand nonetheless.

As soon as she got her tattoo, she sat with her siblings as tears threatened to fall. Five hugged her tightly. She was too young to be going through this, but their dad didn't care.

"It's okay, Kat." He told her quietly.

The six-year-old girl whimpered softly and nodded, burrowing deeper into her brother's arms.

End of Flashback

✫--✫

Katrine sat waiting at the kitchen table for everyone to arrive. When Allison walked in, she looked around and asked, "Where's Vanya?"

"Oh, she's gone." Klaus replied.

"That's unfortunate." Five stated bluntly.

"Yeah." Allison agreed.

"An entire square block, 46 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee."

Allison shrugged. "Dad hated coffee."

Klaus laughed. "Well, he hated children too, and he had plenty of us."

Katrine rolled her eyes, but knew Klaus was right. She ran after Five, calling after him. He turned to face her. "What is it?"

"If you want good coffee, there's a diner a few blocks away. Griddy's diner."

He gave her a nod. "Thanks. I'm surprised it's still there. See you later."

"See you."