It was the question they'd been dreading. The question they knew would come, because it had so many other times.
"I'll just need to know… what are their abilities?"
The principal, Lauren Tanna, was still smiling as she looked at them.
Tom and Sara exchanged wary looks. There was silence for a moment.
"That's the thing." Tom said at last. "They don't have abilities."
But Lauren kept smiling. "Oh, haven't seen an eclipse yet, eh?" She nodded understandingly. "A lot of the students haven't. Most are born with their abilities, of course, but many others…" She trailed off and shrugged. "I'll just need to know what they are when they find out."
Sara bit her lip. Tom placed a comforting hand on hers.
"That's the problem." Tom said.
"We decided to get the blood tests." Sara's words were quiet, and she was studying her shoes. "We wanted know what we were dealing with, ability-wise. And… And…" She trailed off, her eyes closing.
"They're human." The words seemed difficult even for Tom.
Lauren's eyes widened. They flickered to the two children in the corner of the room.
Rose and Eric were trying to stack the blocks they'd been given. Eric didn't seem to care much about it, but Rose was stacking them with purpose, designing them exactly, while Eric seemed content to just hand them to her.
They were so small.
So dangerous.
"I can't…" The words came out of Lauren's mouth before she could think. It was impossible that there would still be humans out there... they were extinct!
"Please." Sara begged. Her eyes were swimming with tears. "Please, they're brilliant children. They do what they're told, they don't argue…" She looked at Lauren. "You're our last hope."
Tom's features were set in a stony glare as he looked at Lauren, as though he was daring her to contradict his wife.
Lauren looked back at the children. Rose was now staring directly at her. Her bright, blue eyes seemed to pierce through Lauren, as though she could see straight through her.
Lauren held the child's gaze, as though staring down this five-year-old would prove, once and for all, that heroes were stronger than humans had ever believed.
But Rose didn't back down. Her head was held high.
Finally, Lauren turned back to her parents. "Very well. But we'll have to inform the teachers." She paused. "They won't like it."
Sara's eyes lit up. "You mean… they can go?"
Lauren nodded. "I don't have much of a choice. But yes, they may attend this school."
Sara let out a huge sigh of relief, wrapping her arms around Tom.
His features remained hard, but he hugged her back.
Lauren looked once more to the twins in the corner.
This wasn't going to be easy.
"WHAT?"
John Black was the first to react to the news.
Lauren nodded and repeated regretfully, "They're human."
"Impossible!" Dorothy cut in. "The human gene died out long ago!"
"Apparently not. Perhaps it still exists."
An uneasy silence covered the room.
"Are you saying that… more children could become… human?" Jackie's voice rose to an ear-splitting squeak on the last word.
Lauren nodded slowly. "It certainly seems possible."
"No!" Dorothy intervened again, shaking her head fiercely. "The human gene is gone. It can not come back!"
"Then how do you explain the two human children that we're meant to teach?" Lauren demanded.
"Teach?" John demanded. "You still expect us to teach these monstrosities?"
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Kayla shouted, rolling her eyes. "They're children, John. They may be human, but they're hardly likely to kill you in your sleep."
"We can not just allow them to come into our school! It would be endangering the other children!"
"Why?" Kayla demanded. "Their lack of abilities? Many children don't have them yet."
"They're human!" John retorted.
Kayla snorted. "Oh, yes. That's a wonderfully sane argument, John!" She bit out the words sarcastically. "What would you have us do? Kill them?"
Silence filled the room for a moment.
"We could at least notify the police." John said at last.
"The police!" Kayla threw up her hands in exasperation. "They aren't criminals, John! They're just children. They may be human, but they're only five years old!"
"Children grow up." John insisted.
She glowered at him, but before she could speak, Lauren shouted, "Enough!"
All eyes turned to her.
"The decision has been made. We're teaching these children. End of discussion."
Rose bounced into the school, her smile bright as she sat down on the floor, looking up expectantly at the teacher. Eric sat shyly down next to her.
Rose was talking to everyone. "Hi, I'm Rose, what's your name?"
"I'm Lana." One little girl, clearly as energetic as Rose herself, said brightly.
"Wanna be friends?"
Eric, forever the more observant of the twins, was watching the teacher. He was a tall man, with thick brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had been watching the two children warily, and now looked absolutely horrified as the word 'friends' came from Rose's lips.
"Class!" He intervened hurriedly. "I think it's time to begin our lesson!"
Eric looked at him, puzzled. He wasn't exactly good at telling time, but he was sure that he hadn't gotten here this late…
But the teacher's eyes were locked on him, as though daring him to say something against him. Eric shrunk inwards on himself, working to appear invisible from those dark brown eyes.
He smiled at the other children, but Eric saw how he avoided his gaze. It must have been his imagination, though, because he seemed friendly enough.
"My name is Mr. Black." He said cheerfully. His eyes crossed the room again. "Now, I'd first like everyone to introduce themselves. I want you to tell the class your name, age, and if you have your ability yet. Those that do, I'd like you to come to the front of the class for me, all right?"
Everyone nodded eagerly, and the children slowly stood up, one at a time, saying their names and age. Many didn't have abilities, but the few who did announced them proudly before moving to the front of the classroom.
When Rose's turn came, she stood up proudly. "I'm Rose, and I'm five years old."
She looked at Eric, waiting for him to stand with her. It was always that way; they did everything together, they were never separate, no matter how small the matter was.
But Mr. Black was glaring at them. Eric wondered what he had done wrong. He shrunk even further in on himself, then looked at his sister and shook his head. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to stand up. He didn't want to say his name. He didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than was necessary.
Rose looked at him, understanding forming on her face. She leaned over and gripped his hand, pulling him into a standing position against his will.
"And this is Eric!" She announced proudly. "He's my twin brother."
Eric stood, petrified, before Mr. Black's dark stare.
"Yes, that's wonderful." He had a way of twisting the words, as though that wasn't what he really meant. "But maybe you should let him introduce himself next time, hmm?"
Eric sat down as hurriedly as he could, but Rose was unfazed. She sat down next to him, still smiling.
Once everyone was finished, Mr. Black had every child with abilities show them what they were. One of them froze the table. Another picked up aforementioned table with one hand. Still another crawled on the wall until he was upside-down on the ceiling.
Finally, Mr. Black was standing in front of them, his smile wide.
He held up a hand, and fire began to dance across it. Everyone's wide eyes were staring at it.
Eric watched in fascination. Immediately, he knew what he wanted his ability to be.
"It's called Pyrokenisis." Mr. Black said with a smile. "Flame control."
Eric's eyes were locked on the flames, so intent on watching them that he no longer noticed Mr. Black's harsh glare.
But Mr. Black noticed him. And the moment he did, the flames died.
Eric saw his teacher's face at last. He quickly looked away, unsure why he was doing so.
Slowly, unnoticed by either twin, a smile crossed over Mr. Black's face.
"Now, before we start anything today…" He said slowly. "I'd like to know what you know. Anything you know about… the wars." The words were very dramatic, as was often a good idea with children. It kept their interest, after all.
One child's hand instantly shot up.
He smiled at him and nodded. "Go ahead, Jack."
Jack opened his mouth and launched into his explanation. "My parents told me that the wars were because of the humans. That that's who we were fighting against. Hero and humans." He smiled genuinely.
Mr. Black nodded again. "Very good, very good. Adriana, what about you?"
The little girl blushed, but spoke. "My daddy said that the humans were nice to the heroes at first, but that they lied to them and started to hurt them. They were mean." Her words were very serious.
He nodded approvingly. "Exactly. You see, humans were once the only people on this planet."
Eyes widened, staring at him, giving him their absolute attention.
"And then, heroes showed up. No one knew why. And for a long time, they were secret. They didn't tell the humans that they were there.
But, after a while, there were too many heroes to hide. Humans found out. At first, they were nice, but it was all a lie."
Rose's hand shot up.
Mr. Black seemed to ignore her. "They were not nice. They were very mean people, who hurt heroes, who hurt them for fun."
Rose waved her hand in the air energetically.
But the teacher seemed to be speaking only to the children who were listening to his story with horrified expressions. "Eventually, a fight broke out. A huge war that we won. Now, there are no more humans." His eyes seemed to drift to Rose and Eric. "And there won't be, ever again."
A few of them cheered, but Rose kept her hand in the air.
Mr. Black turned to her and, with a heavy sigh, acknowledged her presence. "What is it, Rose?"
Rose didn't hesitate. "My daddy says that not all of the humans were bad guys. He said that some of them were nice."
Mr. Black's features twisted into what could only be called a sneer. "Really. I wonder why he said that."
Rose pressed on. "He said that not all of them wanted the war. There were bad guys, yeah, but there were some good guys, too. Daddy said that some of them were probably good enough to be heroes."
Mr. Black stared at her in outrage. "Good enough to be heroes? Rose, enough! These are lies, do you understand? Humans could never…"
But Rose didn't let him finish. "He said that some humans were good, just like some heroes are bad. Heroes like Sylar."
The teacher got to his feet. "I SAID ENOUGH!" He roared. Fire danced in his eyes.
Rose looked at him in fear. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks; it was very rare that anyone yelled at her, and even then it was only her parents, not someone she'd never met.
Eric was on his feet faster than his teacher had been. "Don't talk to my sister like that! Don't you dare!" His earlier fear had all but disappeared. Rose was his twin; her pain was his pain.
"Are you yelling at me?" Mr. Black asked dangerously.
Mr. Black's eyes smoldered as the two stared at each other. The tables had turned for the twins; now Rose was the one hiding behind Eric. It was a position she took gratefully.
No one said a word. The other children were absolutely silent as they stared, horrified and excited.
"You don't get to talk to Rose like that." Eric replied. "You don't get to be mad at her. She didn't do anything to you."
Mr. Black looked as though he would protest, but instead pointed out the door. "Go to the principal's office. Both of you. Now."
Eric's eyes narrowed. He said nothing further as he gently led his sister out of the room, glaring daggers at his teacher as he did so.
Once outside, Rose burst into tears. Eric wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to cry into his shoulder.
"I… don't… know why… he was…so mad!" Rose blubbered.
"He's a meanie-head." Eric replied simply.
He waited until Rose's eyes were dry before starting the trip to the principal's office.
Eric figured that the hallways were made to look dark and scary on purpose. They were so huge. He felt tiny, like a little speck on the wall. But he didn't care. He had to help Rose, and nothing that this school could do to him would prevent that.
He knocked on the door for Rose, who again went behind him. She was no longer crying, and Eric knew that some of her confidence must be coming back, but she was still not brave enough to face the principal. The principal's office was only for really bad people; she didn't want to be like that.
"Come in." They heard the voice from the other side of the door.
Eric did as told, and Rose followed.
The woman smiled at them, though Eric thought it looked fake. "Hello. What do you need?"
"We got kicked out of class." Eric said bravely, to which Rose nodded.
The principal's expression turned stern. Eric thought this looked much more natural. "Well, that's not good. Why did this happen?"
"Because he yelled at my sister." Eric continued. "And I yelled back."
"Well, why did he yell at her?" The principal asked, puzzled.
"Because we were talking about the wars." Rose spoke up at last, more at ease with her brother backing her up. "And I told him that not all humans were bad, just like not all heroes are bad, but not all are good. Like Sylar. And he got mad and told me I was lying." Eric nodded fiercely.
"And you yelled at him?" She questioned.
"He yelled first." Eric retorted.
"But you did yell at him?"
"Yes."
"You know you're not supposed to do that…"
"I don't care. He was yelling at my sister."
The principal's stern look became even more stony. "That's no excuse."
Eric couldn't understand it. He'd expected the principal to be mad at him and the teacher. With more emphasis on the teacher than him. He didn't reply to her accusation; instead, he glared at her.
"Now, I'm afraid I'll have to call your parents." She said harshly. "And tell them what you've done."
Rose cringed, but Eric remained defiant. His parents would know. They would believe him.
Tom was furious.
He marched to the school doors, despite the fact that his family was all at home, and he had no real business here.
He walked over to the classroom and knocked twice.
"Come in." A voice called back.
Tom wrenched the door open and went into the room.
John Black turned to face him. His features hardened. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"What else?" He demanded. "What were you thinking? These are little children, for crying out loud! Hardly any of them even know about the hero-human war!"
"All the more reason to teach them." John sneered.
"Teach them? Teach them? You had no intention of teaching them. You and I both know it." He took a step towards him. "Don't you get it? My children don't know that they're human. They don't know a thing about it yet." His eyes hardened. "So if you dare try and pull that kind of a stunt again…"
He let the threat hang in the air for a moment, then whirled around and walked out the door.