TOUCH | F. Hargreeves

02

Beau, or Number Zero, had been doing well with his training but when it came to the rules, well, let's just say he had a knack for disobeying Reginald's orders. It was clear to see by the other children that their father wasn't as hard on him as he was with them, however, as Beau often walked around in his own clothes and he spoke to the man rather impolitely. Most were jealous, others were curious.

The seven children sometimes heard Beau yelling their father's first name, claiming to be infuriated about something that had to do with his powers and the man always came running. Beau was his perfect Number Zero and the rest were slowly feeling forgotten. They had no idea how the boy and their father had gotten seemingly so close so fast but they knew it had something to do with his powers.

"Isn't it a little early for this?" A ten-year-old Beau sighed through bleary eyes and long yawns as he was pulled down the hall by Reginald at four in the morning. The sun had yet to rise and Beau was beyond tired from the lack of sleep the night before so it was clear to see he wasn't too ready for whatever the old man was going to throw at him this time.

"It is never too early for your training, my boy," Reginald grumbled in his authoritative and determined tone. Beau groaned and almost dropped to the ground and would've let himself be pulled across the floor if he wasn't passing the rooms of the other children -  they were probably asleep, sure, but that didn't mean anything to Beau.

And if he had been dragged along, Five would have seen him from the crack of his door, frowning in curiosity at the sight of them then to the clock that told him it was far too early for anything.

Reginald and Beau settled into his office, one obviously very exhausted as he slouched deep into the chair while the other looked through his paperwork.

"So," Beau sat up in the seat and cleared his throat, "What are we doing on this fine day?"

Reginald muttered something under his breath, not bothering to look over Beau, as he prepared himself for what he was about to say. "I want you to look into my mind and tell me what you find."

"You want me to read your mind?" Beau was confused, he had done that plenty of times to know exactly how it worked and he could easily control it too so how was this a challenge?

Reginald shook his head, "No, no. This is different, Number Zero. I need you to look past that, find my memories, tell me what it is you see."

Well, that he had never done, not including the time he fell unconscious when he tried to read his mother's mind and found a flashing movie of unimportant flashbacks, maybe from her childhood. That was a complete accident which he had never meant to have done.

Beau hummed and sat back, getting himself comfortable, and peered into the vacant space of his caregiver's blank mind. There he sat for a moment, simply in the company of the wind blowing that he always thought of to keep it clear until there was something grabbing at him, something that needed to be seen and heard.

Beau's eyes glazed over and brightened to a deep red. 

"What? What is it?" Reginald felt Beau invade his mind, rifling through things that even he hadn't touched in years, old forgotten memories and past thoughts. It wasn't unpleasant but it was very odd.

"I see..." Beau spoke as he watched and listened and learned, his eyes flickering in time with the movement before him like a film, "Everything."

"Well, come on, boy. Spit it out." Reginald grew agitated at the silence the boy was giving as he looked over his entire life, something which has never and never will again.

"Abigail," Beau breathed as he saw an older woman laugh in glee with her new husband, Reginald, her bright eyes full of life and beauty. Reginald's lungs restricted for a moment at the drop of a name, his love, the one he lost and missed every single day, Beau had seen her. "Beautiful. Sick. Gone... Sadness." His eyes moved to the corner of the room though it was clear he wasn't tethered to reality just yet. "Something alien. Grace. The president. She left. October first, 1989."