The porch boards creaked under Chloe's weight as she pulled the coat tighter around her shoulders. It was Max's – too big, heavy with soot and sweat but the only thing warm left that didn't stink of rot or metal.

Liz would've rolled her eyes. Stealing my dad's apocalypse gear? Really?

Chloe smirked at the thought. Then didn't.

The tea was bitter. Cold. It tasted like soot and tin but it gave her something to do with her hands.

The forest below was silent.

No birds. No wind. The trees stood like sentries – frozen mid-breath, their branches weighed down by mist. Even the bugs had gone quiet. It felt less like a lull, and more like a warning.

The sky was washed in pale grey. Dawn, maybe. Or just a world stuck between cycles.

Behind her, the door creaked open.

Victor stepped outside, boots heavy. He carried a second mug, steam rising faintly from the rim. Ceramic clinked as he lowered himself onto the porch beside her with a grunt.

He didn't speak. Neither did she.

They sat in the kind of silence that didn't ask to be filled.

"I don't think I've heard a single bird all morning," Chloe said finally.

Victor glanced at the tree line. Frowned. "Could be nothing. Could be everything."

She nodded once, but didn't take her eyes off the fog.

A minute passed. Maybe more.

Victor broke the stillness again, voice careful. "You and Alyssa. What's the dumbest question people ask you about twins?"

Chloe gave a soft huff of laughter. "That's a toss-up. Either 'how can I tell you apart?' or— 'which one's the evil twin?'"

Victor turned slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Well? Which one is?"

"Definitely Alyssa."

He smiled. So did she. Just for a second.

"She's the louder one. Sharper, funnier, stronger. I'm the quiet one people forget is in the room until they try to walk through me."

He chuckled. "Literal ghost."

Chloe rolled the mug between her palms. "We're alike. But sometimes we're opposites. Same base, same spectrum. She's heavy, I'm light. Density and intangibility. Not opposed, just... the far ends of something."

Victor's face shifted – just a little. Thoughtful.

"I always wanted a brother," he said. "Didn't get one. Max is the closest thing I've got."

Chloe didn't reply right away. Just stared at her reflection in the mug—blurry and off-centre.

"She always knew what to do," she murmured. "I just followed her lead."

Victor looked over. "You think she's okay?"

Chloe's lips pressed together. Her eyes flicked toward the clouds hanging low over the ridgeline.

"She's not the type to die easy," she said at last. "If anyone's still out there, it's her."

Victor followed her gaze, the mug steady in his hands. He didn't speak for a long time.

Then: "Still no word."

Three words. Nothing special. But they carried weight. Max was gone. Ying. Ferron. Dan. Alyssa. Liz was still asleep behind reinforced doors, and everything else was static.

Chloe wrapped the coat tighter around her shoulders. The collar brushed her cheek.

"They're alive," she said quietly. "All of them. I'm sure of it."

Victor didn't respond right away. Then he exhaled and muttered, "Well, if they're not, they're taking their sweet time telling us."

Chloe snorted once – just air. Not quite a laugh.

Victor gave her a sideways glance. "What? I'm allowed to be the funny one. You're the ghost."

She didn't answer. But the tension cracked, just slightly.

He leaned back against the railing, eyes scanning the fog-draped trees.

Not because he disagreed. But because hope was harder to hold than a rifle.

And right now, the forest wasn't saying anything back.

…………………

The compound's training yard was just a patch of ruined earth – cracked flagstones, a rusted bench half-swallowed by vines, and a few broken concrete blocks someone had tried to stack into makeshift cover. It looked more like a neglected parking lot than a combat zone.

Chloe stepped out first, rolling her shoulders. She wore a tank top and cargo pants, barefoot, her hair tied up tight. Max's coat was gone, left folded on the steps.

Victor followed behind her, stretching his arms, cracking his neck. He kept his shirt on – grey, sweat-stained, sleeves pushed up to the elbow. No theatrics. Just tired purpose.

He didn't say much as he started warming up – squat, twist, hop, repeat. Everything was efficient. Quiet.

Chloe watched him for a beat. "You're fast. Strong. I get that. But what does it feel like? When you change."

Victor exhaled. "You don't start with the easy ones, huh."

She shrugged. "Curious. Might help me not get my ass kicked."

Victor gave a short laugh, but there was no amusement in it. Just breath. He stood still for a moment, gazing toward the trees.

"Free," he said at last. "That's what it feels like. Like freedom with claws."

Chloe tilted her head. Waiting.

Victor took a step closer to one of the concrete blocks and sat down on it.

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"I grew up with nothing," he said. "No parents. No brothers. No guidance. Just a string of foster homes, some bad, some worse. Spent a lot of time on the streets."

Chloe said nothing.

"I used to sneak into the zoo. At night. Through a gap in the fencing near the back. Most kids snuck into arcades. I watched lions sleep."

He looked at her, his tone steady now. "One day this dumbass tourist climbed into the lion enclosure. Drunk. Arrogant. They mauled him. Didn't kill him, just… reminded him that he shouldn't be there."

Chloe blinked. "Dumbass sounds right."

"Yeah. But what I remember most wasn't the idiot tourist. It was the lions – afterward. They didn't look proud. Didn't look dangerous. They looked ashamed. Like they knew they were gonna be punished just for being what they were."

A silence stretched between them.

"That was the day I knew," Victor said. "If I ever had a shot at anything, it'd be to help them. Study them. Keep them out of cages."

He stood again. Slowly flexed his hands.

"When I transform… it's not about rage. Or control. It's giving that part of me space. Letting the wild out. And when I do, I'm faster, stronger, focused but I'm also gone. Not all the way. Just… farther back."

Chloe watched as fur rippled across his knuckles. Claws extended – not all the way, just enough to curve like obsidian hooks.

She whistled, low. "Okay, that's… creepy. And kind of badass."

Victor smirked, but the mentor-tone never left his voice.

"You don't have to fear it. But you damn well better respect it."

"I do," she said. "I respect that it's going to hit the ground hard when I drop you."

Victor chuckled, nodding to the centre of the yard. "Alright, kid. Let's see what the ghost twin's got."

She moved lightly onto the dirt. "Try to keep up, old man."

Victor's smile widened but this time, it was all teeth and warning.

"Let's dance."

…………………

Chloe moved first.

She didn't charge – just slipped. One moment she was in front of Victor. The next, a flicker to the side. Then gone again. Her outline shimmered faintly as her foot skimmed the dirt, almost without weight.

Victor narrowed his eyes, circling.

"Okay," he muttered. "That's new."

She flickered behind him. "You're slow."

He spun, claws half-drawn, swiping at where she'd just been. Air. No contact.

Chloe phased through a low feint and reappeared five feet away, breath steady. Her fists were raised, but she wasn't trying to hurt him. She was practicing restraint – moving with flow, not force.

Victor's voice was impressed. "How the hell does that even work?"

Chloe exhaled slowly. "I think… I don't disappear. I just sync with the world. Like I'm slipping between the beats of a drum. The rhythm doesn't change. I slip between the beats."

She stepped forward, and her arm flickered – intangible as smoke. She phased cleanly through a concrete pillar. When her hand emerged, she snapped her fingers – perfectly solid again.

Victor gave a low whistle. "And you can control what parts of you phase?"

She nodded. "Takes effort. And timing. I can phase my hands, my legs… or the thing I'm holding. Leave it behind inside someone."

Victor blinked. "You've done that?"

"No," she said quickly. "But I've thought about it."

There was a beat.

She lowered her stance a little. "It's weird, though. Ever since Alyssa and I were kids… I felt like I wasn't fully here. Like she got the spotlight, and I got the... shadows. Second twin. Second heartbeat. Like maybe I wasn't supposed to exist at all."

Victor's face shifted – something in the jaw, the eyes. He straightened, claws retracting.

"That's not true."

"I know," Chloe said softly. "Now I know. But for a long time? I felt like a ghost. Even before I had the power to be one."

She looked up, eyes sharp again. "But that's the thing. I'm not vanishing. I'm moving. Choosing what to let through, what to block. You swing a fist at me – I let it pass. I don't want to get hurt? I don't. That's my shield."

Victor crossed his arms. "And when you stop phasing?"

Chloe smiled faintly. "Then I punch back."

She lunged.

Victor blocked, claws up, but her hand passed clean through his arm – then solidified mid-motion and tapped his ribs with the flat of her knuckles.

Victor flinched. "Ow."

"You said hold back," she said, grinning.

"You were holding back?"

She nodded. "I could've left a live grenade inside your chest."

He stared at her. "You're a terrifying girl."

"I try."

They circled again – Chloe light on her feet, Victor more cautious now.

And for the first time, they moved together. Not teacher and student. Not adult and teen.

But two powered beings learning how to fight beside each other. Maybe even becoming friends.

Victor ducked a swipe and laughed under his breath.

"Alright, ghost girl. You win round one."

Chloe pulled her hair back into a tighter tie. "I'll win round two, too."

…………………

Victor lobbed a small rock at Chloe's head.

She didn't flinch. Just let it pass clean through her skull – her form flickering slightly, like mist caught in a spotlight. The rock thunked harmlessly into the fence behind her.

She grinned. "You're getting predictable."

Victor exhaled, claws retracted, chest still rising and falling fast. "You're getting smug."

They circled again, slower this time. Less sparring. More… testing. Chloe flickered in and out of phase with short bursts – stepping through a collapsed bench, then solid again. Each time she returned to full form, her eyes sparked with something brighter.

Victor darted forward – just a feint – but fast enough to blur. His foot kicked up dust, claws slashing the air inches from where Chloe's ribs would've been. She phased at the last second, vanishing just enough for the attack to miss.

Victor stumbled slightly, caught his balance.

He laughed, low and hoarse. "You're scary."

Chloe tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You're fast."

Then it hit them both – fatigue like a wave. They sat in the dirt, backs to the training post, not quite touching but close enough to feel each other's heat.

Victor rolled his shoulder with a grunt. "Max changed us."

Chloe wiped her arm across her brow. "You think he knows how much?"

He didn't answer at first. Then:

"We heal faster. Take hits that should drop us. I took a piece of shrapnel to the gut two weeks ago – thought it missed the artery. It didn't."

Chloe raised her brows. "What happened?"

Victor shrugged. "It pushed out. Like the body knew it didn't have time to die."

Chloe looked down at her hands. "I can hold my breath for five minutes now. And run six k's without losing pace. That's not normal."

"Neither's phasing through concrete."

"Neither's growing claws like a werewolf," she shot back.

They were quiet for a beat.

Then Chloe said it: "It's not demonic. Doesn't feel like it. It feels like… like we're burning through the limits that were already there."

Victor's expression shifted – thoughtful, even proud.

"Like evolution," he said.

Chloe nodded. "But not random. Like… something wanted this. Like the universe gave Max a key, and he's unlocking something that was already inside us."

Victor's voice dropped a little. "I don't know if it's a gift or a curse."

Chloe tilted her head. "Maybe it's both."

He glanced at her, a faint smile in the corner of his mouth. "Still scary."

"Still fast."

She nudged him lightly with her shoulder. "We're not normal anymore."

"No," he agreed. "But maybe normal's overrated."

"Still… try not to phase out mid-sentence. That's just rude."

They sat in silence a moment longer.

The breeze picked up.

And neither of them looked away from the horizon – because for the first time in a long time, they felt like they belonged in the same world as the monsters.

…………………

The hallway outside Liz's room was cloaked in half-shadow.

Sunset bled through the cracked windows, slanting light across the walls in long crimson streaks. Dust floated in the still air, catching in the beams like suspended ash.

Victor leaned against the doorway, arms folded. His eyes stayed on the sealed chamber ahead – on the faint red shimmer that pulsed gently behind the reinforced glass.

Chloe stood beside him, silent. The glow lit her face in soft, shifting hues.

"She's brighter today," she murmured. "Stronger."

Victor didn't answer right away.

The red aura around Liz was faint, but alive. Not just light – presence. It shifted with her breath. Coiled and uncoiled like a sleeping animal. Or a thought still dreaming.

"Max said it's psychic," Chloe added, her voice barely above a whisper. "Grimm called it a 'mind affinity.'"

Victor grunted. "He's not wrong."

He pushed off the wall, stepped closer, resting one hand lightly on the edge of the glass.

"She made a shield. Back in the temple. Red as blood. Dome wide enough to cover her pod. Nothing got through it. Nothing even tried."

Chloe nodded. "It wasn't just armour."

She paused. Her voice had changed – quieter now. A little reverent.

Liz floated inside the pod – eyes closed, body still. But the red shimmer traced over her skin like ripples in hot glass. It danced at her fingertips. Hovered above her chest. Waited.

Victor exhaled slowly. "If that's what her power looks like asleep…"

He didn't finish.

Chloe did.

"I wonder what she'll be when she wakes up."

The hallway fell silent again.

The sunset dimmed behind the trees.

Then Chloe, soft but certain: "We'll find out."

She didn't look away.

"And God help whatever tries to stop her."

Victor let out a low breath. Then, with the faintest trace of a smile:

"Careful throwing around the G-word."

Chloe blinked. "What?"

He nodded at the pulsing red light behind the glass. "Last time someone called on God, we lost most of a continent."

Chloe didn't smile, but her shoulders relaxed just enough to show she heard him.

Victor turned back to the hallway, eyes still wary.

"Let's just hope this one doesn't wake up hungry."

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