Zero had seen the end of the world dozens of times, in flashes and fragments, each version stitched together by chaos. But tonight, the air felt heavier. Five had disappeared again, the tension in the house had turned solid, and Zero's gut—his only true compass—told him something irreversible was coming.
He sat alone in the observatory as the sky dimmed over the city. From this height, everything looked distant. Calm. Unreal.
(There's a moment before everything breaks. Just one heartbeat where it could still go either way. I think we're past that moment now.)
The sound of footsteps pulled him from his thoughts. Luther, storming through the house again. Ever since he found out about the moon mission and the betrayal that came with it, he'd been spiraling. Allison tried to reason with him, but even she couldn't reach him when he was like this.
Meanwhile, Five was back in the city, unraveling everything the rest of them didn't want to see.
Zero felt the pull again. The thread. A glimmer in his chest that guided him forward when logic and memory failed. He closed his eyes and followed it.
The motel room flickered into view, not real—just a projection from a moment slightly ahead of now. Klaus still sat tied to the chair, blood on his lips. Hazel and Cha-Cha loomed.
But something had changed.
Ben was with him.
Zero felt the air shift. Klaus was opening. Unlocking. This wasn't the moment he'd seen before. This was new.
(He's starting to connect. To channel them. Not just see. Good. We're going to need that soon.)
He released the thread and returned to the mansion.
The others were arguing again. Allison and Diego, trading blame over their father's death and Grace's shutdown. Luther barking commands no one followed.
No one noticed Zero step through the hallway.
Except Vanya.
She watched him from the staircase, quiet, violin case by her side. He nodded to her. She didn't smile, but she didn't look away.
There was a strange peace in her now, like a river gone still before a storm.
He didn't like it.
Five returned later that night, bloodied, eyes electric with urgency. He burst through the door, muttering about The Commission, about contracts and the Handler and a job offer he barely escaped.
"They want me to maintain the apocalypse," he said, breath ragged. "They want it to happen."
Zero said nothing. He already knew.
(And this is when it starts. The turn. The others won't believe him. Not fully. Not yet. But I do. I've always believed Five. Because I've seen what he's seen. And worse.)
Diego was the first to push back. "You made a deal with them?"
"I almost made a deal," Five snapped. "I got the briefcase. That's what matters."
Zero stepped forward. "Then we move. Fast. We've got less than five days now."
All eyes turned to him.
"Excuse me?" Luther asked. "Where are you getting this from?"
Zero looked at Five, then Vanya.
(Do I tell them? Do I finally lay it all out?)
"No more riddles," Diego growled. "No more half-truths."
Zero stepped into the middle of the room.
"I've seen it," he said calmly. "All of it. The moon. The fire. The white light. The crater where this city used to be. We don't survive this. Not as we are."
Luther scoffed. "And you never thought to mention this before?"
"I mentioned it. You just weren't listening."
"Why should we listen now?"
"Because Five has the briefcase. Because Klaus is waking up. Because the Handler is here, and she never shows up unless things are already broken beyond repair."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Five nodded. "He's right."
(That's the first time he's said that out loud. Small win.)
They didn't trust Zero. Not really. But they couldn't ignore him anymore.
The night ended with them scattered again. Luther brooding. Diego sharpening knives. Allison calling her daughter. Klaus wandering barefoot, mumbling about destiny and ghosts.
Zero returned to his planet.
He summoned the thread again and saw something new: Vanya, in the rain, crying. Power lashing from her like thunder. Leonard beside her, smiling.
(Leonard. Of course.)
He clenched his fists.
It had begun.