"No, don't!"

Five glanced up at the yell. It was the first time he had looked up from his book that afternoon.

He'd picked something new from the library, fancying a change from the current book laying half-read in his room. It was an interesting introduction to chaos theory which he had planned to read in its entirety since the old man had given them a rare day off while he conducted whatever business it was that had made him so rich.

He tried to look back at the page, dismissing the noise as another childish fight between his siblings, when another call came from the courtyard.

"Ven. It's just a bug. It doesn't have feelings, all right?"

"You don't know that. Stop it!" Seven cried again. It was rare to hear her speak so loudly.

Tossing the book on the seat beside him, Five figured it was time to stretch his legs anyway. Meandering out of the library, he spotted One, Two and Four crouched around a tree with Seven stood to the side trying to stave off tears.

Five hated being around Seven when she was crying. While there were many wonderful things about his sister, Seven was unfortunately a snotty crier who had a tendency to turn to his shoulder when she was upset.

If her trembling lip was any indication he needed to act fast. If not for Seven, for his jacket.

Materialising behind his brothers he leant over their bowed heads.

"What're doing?" He said, biting back a laugh as the three jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance.

"Ugh, Five. Don't do that!" One complained. One always hated it when Five literally sprung out of thin air behind him. Which was why Five did it so frequently.

"Now, are you frying ants with a magnifying glass because you're interested in optics or are you doing it just to upset Seven?" He asked, looking over the group. Unfortunately he doubted these three would ever use their spare time for intellectual experiments.

Two grunted something, pulling back from the tree.

"What was that?" Five said, using as pedantic a tone as he could muster. He modelled it after their Father.

"I-I said, h-here we g-go a-a-again." Two replied, flushing in annoyance either at Five or his stutter.

"I don't recall ever breaking up a fight between you and some bugs before, Number Two."

"You a-a-always defend h-her." Two said, jabbing a finger towards Seven whose eyes – Five was exasperated to see – immediately filled with tears.

"We told her the ants aren't getting hurt and they don't feel anything." Four cut in. "We're just having fun."

"Yeah, we-we're not l-like h-her. We d-don't get a-all day t-to do what-whatever we w-want."

One gently shoved Two in reprimand (still making Two stumble sideways), however his words weren't much better. "Look, we weren't even thinking about Seven."

Muttering under his breath, Five chanced a glance at his sister.

Now Seven appeared to be trying to disappear into the wall. Not really what he would consider an improvement on crying even if his jacket was now safe. Perhaps he should have retreated for Six, he always handled the emotional stuff better than he did.

"He didn't mean it like that." Four said, looking in frustration at One. "We just meant we didn't think she'd care so much – I mean they're just ants. But hey, we can stop." He added, glancing at the scowl settling over Five's face.

"W-why should w-we?" Two snapped at Five, who was surprised he didn't stomp his foot like a petulant child.

"Because we're upsetting her." Four answered, eyeing his two brother's nervously as they toed off.

"V-Ven got upset w-when Three asked her to s-stop playing the v-viol-lin last w-week. Sh-she g-gets upset over n-nothing."

"Asked?" Five snarled, moving closer into his brother's face. His last growth spurt had left him slightly taller and he could feel how much Two hated that. "Commanded, you mean?"

He felt a tug on his arm and realised Seven had moved into the fray. She had an unmistakable talent for sneaking up on them; if Father wasn't so obstinate and let her receive hand-to-hand training Seven could actually come in good use during their missions. Especially the ones that required more stealth than One and Two were often capable of.

"It doesn't matter, Five. They're right, they're just bugs. They don't have feelings." She shrugged sadly, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

"I couldn't care less about some ants, Seven." Five said, his voice too callous.

"W-why do y-you always have t-to ruin our f-f-fun?" Two asked Seven harshly.

One shoved Two again.

"W-will you s-stop doing that?" Two shouted as he staggered sideways.

"You made her cry, idiot." One retorted, pointing at Seven whose eyes were glistening. "Let's go inside. I got a new record yesterday, let's go listen to it."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Four easily agreed, glad for an excuse to leave before Seven burst into tears. "I bet Six will like to hear it. Let's go ask him."

"Let's ask Three, too." One added enthusiastically.

One and Three had been spending more and more time together lately. Frankly, Five thought Three could do better than spend all her time with 'Sir Punch the Problem Until it Goes Away' but he was finding his sisters harder to understand the older they got.

He watched his two siblings leave, eventually followed by a reluctant Two. He glared at Seven as he walked away, causing their sister to shrink further into herself.

"Why did you back down?" Five asked irritated as he turned back onto Seven.

She gave him another small shrug, hiding her eyes behind those dumb bangs Mom had given her years ago.

"We've been over this, Ven. Use your words." He prompted. Five tried to lighten his tone, not wanting Seven's tears to spill over, but frustration pulsed at his temples. He should've stayed with his book.

"Two was right." Seven sighed.

"Well, I don't think I've ever heard those words in combination before. What was he right about, exactly?"

"You guys train all day, I just sit around doing nothing. You should get to do what you want."

Five gritted his teeth. "You don't sit around doing nothing."

"Nothing important." Seven amended, still not meeting his eyes.

"Seven..."

"I said I'd go help Mom with dinner." She spoke over him.

"Seven!" Five yelled at her, his voice easily dwarfing her timid whisper.

She blinked at him owlishly, unused to being on the receiving end of one of Five's tempers, before trying again.

"No." He insisted as she opened her mouth to make another excuse. "Mom can handle dinner on her own – she does it every day. Now come with me."

She hesitated behind him, so he grabbed her hand and tugged her along.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise. But we're making a few stops first."

Pulling her through the library, Five retrieved his book, before continuing to the staircase and leading her to their bedrooms.

The door to One's room was partially open and he could hear the excited chatter of his siblings over the new record which, after listening to a few bars, Five had already decided he didn't like.

"Go get your violin." He said, pointing at Seven's room. "Not the one Pogo gave you, the nice one."

Nodding, Seven opened the door to her painfully bland room. Five had never managed to convince her to decorate it so he tried to keep them both out of it as much as possible. On the rare occasions they both had free time together, that was.

"Your walls are so boring – are you sure I can't use some of it to write equations on?" He asked, lounging in the doorway. Five's walls were nearly entirely covered; he'd have to ask for some new paint soon so he could start over.

"Why can't you use paper?" Seven asked, sticking her head in the wardrobe to retrieve her most prized possession. She'd taken to using a less valuable violin to practice with after the time Two and Four had stolen Father's from her to use as blackmail for her evening's pudding. Six returned it to her within the hour; the only sibling able to talk any sense into the two.

"Everything seems much clearer when it's written on the wall."

Seven emerged with the case fondly cradled to her body. "Are you working on something new?"

"Yeah." He answered vaguely. "Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"Come on, you'll see."

Seven readily followed him this time, so he didn't need to take her hand. He offered to carry her case however, and he prided himself that she trusted him enough to hand it over. Even if she did hesitate for a second.

He led her along the landing towards the opposite wing, filled with unused bedrooms bar the one used by Pogo. Five chose the one furthest from Pogo's on the off-chance he was in there this afternoon.

Ushering Seven in, he shut the door behind them.

"What are we doing in here?" She asked, taking a seat on the double bed (which was far more comfortable than their narrow singles).

"I looked around the house for places he can't see us. These empty rooms don't have cameras and Mom only comes in to clean them every now and again. So they should leave us alone."

Five had been the first to discover the cameras. They were set up in the training areas, nestled behind some books or fixed into the corners of the ceilings. Five had found one in his room, affixed to the top of his wardrobe where it had lain undiscovered until he got tall enough to spot it. After that he helped his siblings find the other ones in their rooms.

They never confronted the old man about it, something Five still itched to do even if he didn't have the support of the others. But at the moment there was something he wanted from their Father more than privacy.

"What are you reading?"

Seven pointed to the book in his other hand.

"It's about chaos theory. It's a branch of mathematics," he explained, catching her confused yet curious expression, "which suggests that small changes to complex systems can have great consequences."

She nodded before saying: "That doesn't sound too complicated. Is it like the butterfly effect?"

"Essentially."

"Are you going to read it out loud?" She asked.

They did that sometimes even though it usually ended up with Seven fast asleep, his jacket once again falling victim as she nearly always drooled a little.

While she was undeniably his closest to an intellectual equal amongst the siblings, mathematics never held much interest to her unless he could connect it to musical theory. Still, unlike the others she tried and they at least shared an interest in physics. Seven would likely have found the examination of how optics could be used to burn ants fascinating if her empathy didn't get in the way.

"Not today." Five said, handing her violin case back over. "You practise while I read."

"Oh, okay." Seven agreed, a little surprised by his request.

Five hadn't pretended to enjoy Seven's violin practice when she first started a few years ago; back when it sounded like a cat screeching after being spun around by its tail and thrown from a window. A metaphor Two had used and Five had, unusually, agreed with.

As her skill improved though, Five's appreciation for it had risen. His sister's music was far more conducive for a relaxing afternoon spent with a book than whatever racket One had picked up, anyway.

After her siblings' initial reaction to her playing however, Seven was always careful about when to play – practicing when they were out on missions or downstairs in training. Now he felt like he was missing out. His sister always hid her prized possession away whenever her siblings' returned, unless she was confident the latest piece she was studying was good enough to be overheard. If she struck one bad note though, she would quickly falter and stop.

"Is there anything you want to hear?" She asked hesitantly.

He thought for a moment, trying to remember something he'd heard her play before with confidence. "You were playing something last weekend – what was that?"

"Vivaldi?" Seven tried, her face brightening. "I enjoy his work."

"Great, you play that while I read." Five proposed, taking a seat on the other side of the bed.

He plumped a pillow and laid back, opening the book and pulling a pencil from his pocket for making notes. Seven was always slightly horrified that he would write in books, but it was easier than writing it all down on loose pieces of paper.

"Won't that disturb you? I don't have to play, I can just..."

"Seven, you won't disturb me. Now unless you have any more excuses, I've just reached the chapter on universality." He said, looking down at the page.

He could feel her eyes on him for a few moments but he didn't look back up, keeping his eyes on the page. After a moment her case clicked open, and she pulled out her violin.

They sat in peaceful company as she played. Occasionally, while turning a page Five would glance at her and was happy to see her content with her music. She wasn't smiling, having a violin under her chin made that difficult, but she looked happier than she had in the courtyard so he considered it a win. Even if he was still convinced that Six would have done a better job cheering her up.

It was a shame he wouldn't be able to do this more with her, what with their time so strictly scheduled, he thought at he progressed onto inner rhythms. Peace and quiet was hard to find in a house with six super powered children and an authoritarian Father figure – unless you were Seven. She had far too much time on her hands spent in near isolation. Sometimes Five thought it was a shame he couldn't loan her his powers for a day or two so they could switch lives. Maybe then they could have the best of both worlds.

Seven's fingers eventually began to cramp from playing for too long and, after Five finally noticed and chastised her for not stopping sooner, she came to join him at the head of the bed to read over his shoulder.

"I thought you were still reading that book on determinism?" Seven said around a yawn as she settled down beside him.

"I am but philosophy always takes me longer to get through. Today, I fancied something different."

"I prefer it when you read philosophy, then we can talk about it afterwards."

"We can talk about this." Five said, turning the page after a glance at Seven confirmed she wasn't really reading it.

Her nose scrunched up. "I always end up getting confused with mathematical theory, you'll just get annoyed with me when I can't keep up."

He considered her for a minute before slapping the pages shut, making Seven jump a little in her spot.

"I won't get annoyed with you. Anyway, you always lose me when you get into the complexities of musical theory. You have your specialties, I have mine."

"You're reading a lot more of these books." Seven noted, tugging the volume out of his hands so she could read the back. "Are you trying to jump further?"

"Not exactly."

He glanced at her. She looked curious, but he knew she would never press for more information.

"I think I can jump through time. I've been doing all the math," Five admitted, an uncharacteristic excitement passing through his voice as he suddenly confessed it all, "and I've extended my spatial jumps as much as I can. Granted I think I need to stretch the distance more before I try time travel but..."

Seven's eyes had grown wide, not with curiosity this time though. She looked more afraid than anything.

"Seven?"

Hopping off the bed, Seven carefully replaced her violin in its case and snapped it shut.

"Dinner will be ready soon." She mumbled, hugging the case to her chest as she excused herself from the room leaving Five completely baffled.

After a moment he got up and walked into the empty hallway.

"Master Five?" Pogo asked, exiting his room. "What are you doing down here?"

"Nothing." He replied, looking past Pogo towards the children's wing.

"Dinner will be served shortly, I was just making my way downstairs."

Five acknowledged Pogo's pointed statement, excusing himself to wash up.

They all sat in their customary silence while the old man played one of his tapes, although Five glanced at Seven more often than usual. He was waiting for her to look up from her plate and send him her customary shy smile but she kept her eyes trained on their meatloaf for the entire meal.

He stayed downstairs with Four and Six after dinner while Seven retreated upstairs to play for Mom.

"Hey, is Seven still mad at us for earlier?" Four asked, as the three watched her climb up the stairs in silence.

"No."

"Are you sure? I think that's the first time I've heard her yell in my entire life." Four persisted.

"Why were you killing ants, anyway?" Six asked.

"Well we were just stepping on them at first, but that got dull so One suggested the magnifying glass."

Six and Five glanced at each other, equally lost.

"Anyway she seems mad." Four mused. "Or sad. Or tired. You know I can never really tell with Seven."

"Maybe you should apologise?" Six suggested.

"She's not mad." Five restated. Honestly why didn't they listen to him? He was the smartest one of them all.

Except he didn't understand why she was upset, so maybe he shouldn't be giving anyone advice.

He left Seven alone for a while. She evidentially spent the time playing as by the time he got upstairs Three was asking (actually asking this time) that she stop for the night.

"Sorry, Three."

"It's fine, it's good really. I just want to get some sleep." Three reassured, retreating to her own room.

Seven met his eyes before softly closing her bedroom door.

Five got ready for bed, putting on his standard pyjamas. One day when he teleported to another time and place, far away from this house, he would enjoy getting clothes that didn't feature the umbrella logo.

He got into bed and turned off his light but he didn't sleep. Instead he waited until Mom had made her rounds and the hallway was quiet before slipping out of the room.

Tiptoeing over to Seven's, he let himself in instead of risking alerting the adults he was out of bed by knocking. He was already taking a chance that the old man would lay off the monitors tonight.

"Who's there?" Seven breathed as he shut the door behind him. "Six?"

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness but Seven was still squinting at him.

"No – but what are you and Six doing late at night that I'm not invited to?" Five asked, going over to sit on the end of her bed.

"Sometimes he can't sleep." She admitted, curling her knees up to her chest. "Sometimes I can't."

"Why?"

"Ask Six."

"Not Six, I get why he can't sleep." Five said impatiently. "Why can't you?"

"I don't know, it's hard to explain."

"So is chaos theory. Give it a shot." Five pushed.

"I don't enjoy talking about it." Seven replied, her voice steely.

That was interesting. She was more interesting than anyone else gave her credit for.

"Fine. Tell me what happened this afternoon then."

His patience only lasted a moment before he spoke again. "You know, just because you're my favourite sister and you don't have powers, doesn't mean I won't put you in a headlock."

Seven picked at the edges of her blanket restlessly; she always used her extra blanket no matter the time of year.

"I think you're just going to disappear one day and leave me here alone."

He looked at her is disbelief, taking a few breaths through his nose before he trusted himself to speak without snapping at her.

"I will not leave you." Five finally uttered, sounding rightfully indignant.

And to think it was only that very day he was considering her his most intelligent sibling.

"You're the only one I can stand for more than half an hour. Sometimes even Six can't go that long without annoying me."

She shrugged, clearly not believing him.

"I'm serious."

Seven still didn't respond.

"Look, I'll improve my spatial jumps, then I'll get the hang of time travel, then I'll learn how to jump with someone else – and when I get that last one down you're coming with me."

"Why not jumping with me first?" Seven asked, sounding impatient.

Five knew how she felt. There were days he had to remind himself that he was only twelve years old and he couldn't take to the streets, even if it seemed preferable to the Academy on its bad days. And at least Five had good days – the days they had a successful mission, crowds lining the streets cheering, children carrying their action figures, watching the news to hear of their success. All the while Seven stood in the doorway, looking sad and forgotten.

"I'm not risking you by doing that." He explained, shuffling forward on the bed to peel her hands away from her blanket before she could damage the fabric. "So I will improve my spatial jumps, then time travel, and if I can manage those without ripping my molecules apart or tearing a hold in space time, then I'll take you anywhere you want to go. Okay?"

She nodded but still didn't meet his eyes.

"You still don't believe me?"

"Why would you want to take me?" She said, self-disgust clear in her tone. "I can't do anything. Why wouldn't you take Six or Four or, or any of them – someone like you?"

"W..." He stopped himself, unsure which part of Seven's ridiculous sentence to tackle first.

"You're like me. We were all born the same way and, in case you stopped listening during that uncomfortable 'talk' Mom and Pogo gave us, there's nothing normal about that." Five muttered, working hard to keep his voice down. "Now stop being so silly."

He pointed a stern finger at her as she finally looked up. "Do. Not. Cry."

Her mouth crumbled, trying to hold it in.

"No, no, no. I'm serious, don't do it."

Seven buried her head in her hands and her shaking shoulders showed she had ignored him.

With a frustrated sigh, Five scooted to her side and threw an arm around her, accepting that his pyjamas were a lost cause as she took the invitation to use his shoulder to muffle her sobs.

"I hate being here." She eventually choked out.

"I know."

"No you don't." Seven snapped, pushing back to furiously wipe her eyes. "None of you do, none of you know what it's like to feel so, so...useless."

She reached for her bedside table and pulled out her bottle of pills, shaking one onto her palm to take.

"Do those help?" Five asked sceptically.

"They just make me feel kinda numb." Seven replied, putting them away again.

"This is you numb?" Five said. "You've gone through more emotions today than I go through in a month."

"Sorry." She mumbled, slumping back onto the bed.

"No – no I didn't mean..." Five sighed again. "You know sometimes you make me feel really useless."

Her voice was small as she settled her head against his shoulder again. "Why?"

"Because I always seem to fail with you. I try to make you feel better and I mess it up." Five admitted, running a hand through his hair feeling increasingly frustrated. He hated not being able to do something. Even something he cared so little for, like showing empathy.

"You don't fail."

"The tears of course are evidence of my success." He replied dryly, letting his hand brush away the dampness from her cheeks.

"That's my fault."

Five snorted, far too loudly for someone trying to sneak around.

"Five, be quiet." Seven scolded. "If they find you out of bed, you'll get in trouble."

"I know, I know that." He said. "It's just, how do you always make things your fault?"

"But it is." She insisted. "If I could just control myself better, I wouldn't have to take pills."

"That's bullshit."

She hummed, clearly not agreeing. It was annoying, but he was getting too tired to argue.

"So where do you want to go?"

"Huh?"

"When we jump, where do you want to go?" Five asked, pulling her down with him as he laid back.

"Wherever you want to go."

"No, don't do that. Make a choice."

"Well how far can we go?" She queried.

"Anywhere in the world." He said, even if he wasn't sure he would ever have that kind of range.

He thought she wouldn't answer, that perhaps she'd fallen asleep, when she whispered: "I've always wanted to go somewhere quiet. But outside, a big open space. With mountains and trees, maybe a lake. Somewhere I can play without having to worry about what people around me think."

"Okay. Then that's where we'll go." Five promised.

Seven turned on her side, settling her head on his shoulder instead of the pillow. "Are you going back to your room?"

"Yeah, in a minute."

She watched him.

"Where do you want to go?"

He knew she would ask that. Furrowing his brow, he told her.

"Really? But you hate rain."

"I'm sure it doesn't rain all the time. Besides, I'm sure you'd like it too."

"Is that where you'll go first?" Seven asked, propping herself up on an elbow.

"Nah, I'll try more remote places first." Five answered, bringing an arm down over his eyes.

Seven poked it. "Don't fall asleep, you said you were going back to your room."

He blinding pushed her hand away. "I will."

"You'll get in trouble." She warned, her head dropping back down regardless.

"Well I'll just have to take you down with me."

"It's my room. I'll just pretend I didn't know you were here."

Five snorted, imagining Seven of all people trying to lie to him. "That's adorable. Let me know how that works out for you."

The book Number Five is reading is one I actually own, it's written by James Gleick. I started writing the second chapter of this story first (the history nerd within me got very excited about it) so you shouldn't have to wait long for that to be uploaded, it just needs some editing and a little lengthening as it's shorter than this one. Have a good weekend everyone!