"There are three." Matt was explaining. "Tyler, Crystal, and Jack."

The blind man buried his face in his hands. "How could this HAPPEN?" he hissed. "We were promised…"

Concern filled Matt's eyes. "What do you think we should do?"

"Do? There is nothing we CAN do. This is up to them."

"But if Sylar's on their trail…"

"What happens will happen. It has happened before, and so it shall again."

Matt shook his head. "I can't just take that, sir. They're only children."

The man glared at him through sightless eyes. "So were the others. But they are far too powerful."

"Exactly! If Sylar gets a hold of their abilities…"

"Then Sylar gets hold of their abilities, and we can all go home." He replied.

Matt's eyes widened. "Samuel, these are YOUR children! How could you even think like that?"

Samuel turned to face him. "Because they have to find out about their abilities by themselves."

"And if they DON'T?"

"Then there is no hope for them. The past repeats itself, and time goes back to its own devices."

The flame-controller glared at Samuel. "Well, I'm sorry. But I can't stand by and just watch them DIE. I won't."

Samuel nodded slowly. "Then your fate is sealed in the secrets of time."

Matt sighed and walked out the door, fury seeping through him. If Samuel wouldn't help, then he would.

Samuel sighed. He really did care about his children. But he knew. If they didn't find this out for themselves, they would die. It was that simple.

Jack swallowed as the fire blazed around his brother. "TYLER!" He called, his voice panicked.

Abruptly, the fire stopped.

The flame-controller swore, shock filling his features. "No." He whispered.

But Jack wasn't listening. He could see himself, like he could when looking through time, walking towards his brother. "TYLER! NO!" he dropped down next to him.

Tyler's breathing was harsh, cut off at random intervals as he struggled to stay alive. "J-J-J-Jack…"

"I'm here." Jack breathed. "I'm here."

Slowly, Tyler's breathing began to slow. His eyes glazed over as the blaze took its effect.

Tyler was dead.

Jack snapped awake, crying out as he did so. "NO!"

Tyler, in the other room, was at his side in half a second as Jack began sobbing. His arms were around his brother's shoulders in the other half. "Shh, shh, shh, it's ok. It's ok… It was just a nightmare… You're ok, you're ok."

Jack was sobbing too hard to point out that it wasn't himself he was worried about, but Tyler. "It can't be, it can't be." He cried out in whispers.

"It's ok." Tyler promised. "It's ok. Nothing's wrong. It was just a nightmare, all right? You're fine, you're fine…"

"NO!" Jack cried. "It wasn't a nightmare, it wasn't a dream! It was REAL!"

Tyler tried to hold his brother at arm's length, but found it was impossible as Jack wrapped his arms around him. "You can't die. You can't die!"

"Woah woah woah." Tyler looked at Jack as well as he could. "Who said anything about me dying?"

Jack pulled himself away from his brother, whispering his words carefully. "It was the future."

Tyler looked at him, now a small measure of fear in his eyes. "Jack, what happened?"

"You were burning." Jack's eyes glazed over, like they always did when he was looking through time. "The fire was made by a hero, like us."

Suddenly, his glazed eyes locked on Tyler's, though they seemed as though they were looking far away. When he spoke again, though his words were whispered, they held a darkness to them. It was though it wasn't Jack speaking, but time itself.

"There are three children of the invisible man.

One is lost and far away.

One is terrified.

One is confused.

And one is waiting.

Biding his time until the Red Dawn comes."

Sylar smirked as Crystal made herself visible.

"You can't hide from me." He told her.

She whirled around, swearing in surprise as she did so. When she saw him, she relaxed slightly. "Are you following me?" She demanded.

He shrugged, not bothering to fake innocence. "I promised your father, Crystal. Do you want me to betray that promise?"

She glared at him. "I don't care what my father told you." She spat. "Quite honestly, I don't really care about HIM."

He chuckled darkly. "Then why are you trying so desperately to find him?"

For that, Crystal had no answer.

"Samuel?"

The young boy entered the room.

Samuel shook his head. "Not now, Ryan. I'm busy."

Suddenly, a much older voice joined the conversation. "Hello, Samuel."

Samuel whirled around, simply out of instinct, though his eyes wouldn't tell him much.

"It's me." He continued. "Ryan."

Samuel's sightless eyes widened. "Impossible." He breathed. "IMPOSSIBLE."

"Not impossible." Ryan hissed. "You've LIED to me." Pain filled his voice.

Samuel sighed and turned to the little boy. "Ryan?"

"Yes?" The boy replied.

"Why don't you give us a moment? We need to talk."

"Sure thing." He replied, exiting the room. When he was gone, Samuel turned back to the adult Ryan. "Now. What do you need?"

He glared at the blind man. "I need to know why you lied to me. Why you've always been LYING to me."

"Because I had to. Don't you realize what it's taken for me to protect you?"

"PROTECT us? You LEFT! You left Crystal, Tyler and Jack. You took me away from my home, away from my FAMILY. How can you possibly think that you did the right thing? That you protected us?"

"You were far too powerful for your own good! If I didn't do what I did, you could very well be dead by now!"

"Who are you more terrified of? Me, or SYLAR? Or what about THE COMPANY? Because those people have been on our trail the MOMENT you left."

"It is what HAD TO HAPPEN!" Samuel spat. "I could do nothing!"

"You could!" Pain filled Ryan's voice. "There's always another way! ALWAYS!"

Samuel sighed. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I really am. But there wasn't another way. If there was, I would have known it."

"NO!" Ryan spat. "No, you wouldn't have. Because you wouldn't want to think about it long enough to TRY and find a different solution."

"EXACTLY! Because it hurt too bad to think that there might not be a better way!"

Ryan glared at the man. "You don't know ANYTHING." He hissed. "You never have."

"What do you expect me to do, Ryan? What do you honestly THINK I can DO?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Ryan snarled. "BUT THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY! ALWAYS!"

"NOT THIS TIME!"

In the other room, the younger Ryan was sobbing. What could possibly be so important that they had to YELL? He knew enough about abilities to know that this man was him, only from the future. After all, he had an ability of his own.

But how could he argue with the man who had always been his family? Who had always taken care of him?

His hands began to glow. Tears ran down his face. "I know." He whispered to his hands. "I know. You want to help. I want to help. I always…" He chocked. "I just… want. To. Help." He tried to keep his tears back long enough to finish, but his words kept breaking. He hid his glowing hands. It was who he was. A person who helped, no matter what.

But the adults were still arguing.

"This is getting us no where!" Samuel snarled.

"Well good! I have nowhere to GO!" Ryan spat back.

"I don't understand! What happened to you?"

"What ELSE? We found out!"

"HOW? How could you find out?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ryan snarled, his hands suddenly on Samuel's collar, holding him up to the wall. His glowing hands. "Wouldn't you like to know how your plan FAILED?"

"It didn't FAIL!" Samuel hissed. "If you found out, it worked perfectly!"

Ryan looked at him for a long time. The glow in his hands died. "There was something you didn't think of. Something you couldn't plan for."

His eyes locked on Samuel's. "The Red Dawn is coming."