1. Crave
She wants the freedom that Hoagie has when he soars off into the horizon, that Kuki has in a state of perpetual oblivion, that Wally has when he's, well, Wally, and that even Nigel can find when he's thrown himself into a plan or a battle, but all she knows is the constancy of being the oldest, of being the only thing keeping them from falling apart.
2. None
"Oh, come on, one of you has to know what happened to Numbuh Five's Magazines!"
("I can hear that snickering, Numbuh 4!")
3. Glue
Numbuh 5 is candy hunting again; nobody in the tree house can quite figure out what's wrong, but all agree that whatever-it-is vanishes when she returns.
4. Wet
"Surprise!" calls out Numbuh 3, holding the empty bucket, and Numbuh 4 can't help but laugh, despite the soggy papers and furious expression on Numbuh 1's face.
5. Fame
"That's Sector V," they could hear the newest ones whisper as they strode through the Arctic training base, and Abby rolled her eyes as she watched the boys' steps swagger and chests puff up.
6. Instant
It was by no means "friendship at first sight" – in fact, it was a week before they could work together without killing each other, and months before they truly trusted one another – but in the end, it was a bond deeper and stronger than any of them would ever know again.
7. Hold
They break away quickly, and Numbuh 4 complains loudly about "cruddy group hugs," but it is in that moment that they are truly a team.
8. Fish
"No way, we are not doing that again," he says, and behind him Numbuh 4 nods guiltily.
9. Don't
Wait, she wants to say, don't do this, don't leave us, don't be noble, just once do something for you, and not for the common good or whatever it is you tell yourself, but while she is still thinking it, he is gone, and so she doesn't.
10. Ego
Despite his disappointment, she can't help sending him an 'I told you so' smirk – in reply, he stick out his tongue.
11. Flow
"Do you believe in reincarnation?" she asks, her face serious as he looks at her incredulously.
("It's just that Abby feels like she's met you before.")
12. Dream
In Nigel's sleep, he sees things darkly, as if through a tinted window, or a dark film.
13. Action
"Numbuh 4, our lives are an action movie!"
14. Enough
"- and then we'll put Rainbow Monkey curtains on the windows and Rainbow Monkey rugs on the floors and we'll have Rainbow Monkey balloons and Rainbow Monkey streamers and Rainbow Monkey plates and cups and napkins . . ."
15. Green
Wally's parents murmur to each other late at night, and his classmates give him odd looks, and his brother teases him mercilessly, but he can't help feeling that if he sees the color one more time, just one more reflection from the corner of his eye, he'll remember something he thinks maybe he never knew.
16. Metaphor
"It's like riding a bicycle," he said with a grin, "you can never really forget."
("Wally, that's not . . . oh, forget it.")
17. Teach
"No, it goes like this," and suddenly he finds himself showing his entire team how to do the Macarena – Numbuh 5 doesn't stop smirking at him for a week.
18. Demand
Abby looked at the bulletin, and then at her team, shaking her head sadly, and Kuki began to cry.
19. Inspire
"Ms. Sanban, your work speaks to the longing inside of us all for a larger family – where do you get your ideas?"
("I . . . I can't remember . . .")
20. Unrequited
Nigel likes Lizzie, that much is certain; Wally likes Kuki, that much is guessed; Hoagie likes Abby, that much is suspected; and the only constant is that nothing is constant at all.
21. Classic
A long time after, when the son of Numbuh Zero and his team have become just another legend, there becomes a standard for every team: a leader, a pilot/mechanic, a medic, a combat specialist, and a stealth expert.
22. Far
Every night she looked out her window and wished on a star; was it her imagination, or did it seem just a little bit closer this time?
23. May
Every time he looks at the calendar, he thinks there's something he's forgetting – an anniversary, or maybe a birthday – but the month passes, and he soon forgets that too.
24. Breadth
"How big is the galaxy, Numbuh 5?"
25. Wrench
The tool passes from hand to hand to hand to hand, and he rolls his eyes and stifles a smile.
26. Hope
Everything he thinks of sounds like a cruddy Hallmark card, so he mostly just keeps his mouth shut.
27. Scent
Hoagie smells duct tape and lumber, and for a moment hears the screams of four people he's never met.
28. Pastel
Kuki thought, as she met her team for the first time, how very colorful they all were – now, seeing them all for the last time, she is struck by how much they seem to have faded.
29. Artist
In the days before it happens, Abby paints a picture: a simple drawing of five shapes, each a different color, that wrap around each other in one interconnected symbol that, if you squint a little and turn your head sideways, could almost be said to look like the number five.
30. Sorrow
"Adolescence is a period of transition," the counselor explains, "and so it's perfectly normal to experience feelings of loss or abandonment."
("Now, tell me again about this 'Sector V.'")
31. Path
They float in and out of his life – inventors, flirts, tough kids, and quiet ones – but he can never forget the originals, even if he doesn't quite remember who they were.
32. Wood
The tree is getting old, branches falling off and cracking; Nigel's dad wants to finally get rid of it, but Nigel runs his fingers across the scars where nails once were, and asks him to please, leave it, just one more year.
33. Acceptance
The week after their final tests, you could have heard a pin drop in the treehouse – that is, until Numbuh 3 got bored, and then you couldn't hear yourself think.
34. Yet
Every day Numbuh 5 begins to pull out an Operative Replacement request from, but every day she ends up leaving it, just until tomorrow.
35. Shiver
A child's laugh, a child's shout, a child's scream, and she wakes in a cold sweat to lie awake until morning.
36. Hero
Every kid wants to save the day; for a select few, it finally becomes reality.
37. Body
One day Kuki's sleeves aren't quite so droopy, and Nigel cannot fit his head through his turtleneck, and Abby's dress begins to tighten in front, and they begin to quietly fade into adulthood.
38. Man
"I always want to be a kid, and have adventures."
39. Pretend
"I'm not sad – only girls get all weepy about this kinda stuff."
40. Curious
"Whatcha doing?" she asked nonchalantly, ignoring everyone's guilty looks as they quickly hid their hand behind their backs.
41. Different
In every school there are kids who are different, who walk with the shadow of things unknown, and now they have become part of them.
42. Smooth
"Yep," he says proudly, "we're a well-oiled ma- aah, Kuki, don't touch that!"
43. Right
"It's just not fair, Numbuh 4," Kuki sniffs as they return to the treehouse, and he's never agreed with her more.
44. Together
As one, they all realized that this was the real thing, this was really happening; as one, they all turned to run; then, as one, they stopped and turned back to face it as a team.
45. Desire
I do solemnly swear to put the needs of the KND and of kids everywhere ahead of my own whenever necessary – hundreds of kids had said it before them; had they all had such a hard time keeping to it?
46. Ritual
She blows out the candles, as always, but this time her wish is silent, and her teammates do not ask.
47. Color
As the years go bye, Kuki eventually gets rid of all her Rainbow Monkeys – all but five.
48. Visit
On her fourteenth birthday, she sat alone, waiting for a knick that would never come, and she didn't know why.
49. Belong
Everything's so different here, he writes in letters that quietly disappear somewhere between Jupiter and Mars, but somehow it feels almost the same.
50. Bully
The older boy watched the other, tougher-looking kids assemble behind the airhead in the green sweater and began to have some serious doubts.
AN: Yeesh, it's been a long time since I've uploaded something. Well, here's what I've been working on for a while. As you can tell, a lot of them are decidedly AU, mostly regarding Numbuh 1 and his departure for the GKND, and several having to do with decommissioning, of course. I will admit that I cheated on some of them, but I felt that they needed that, and I hope it doesn't detract.