I am not yet done with story 20 for the 100 SSSS-fic challenge, but I was growing tired of crime and decided to move forward anyway. The prompt for this story was Vacation.

Emil took an extra turn around his apartment, before closing his backpack and pulling it to his back. There was still two hours until the train to Mora would leave, but he didn't see any reason to linger. He locked the door, rushed down the stairs and almost ran into his landlord Ada Johansson, a 55-year old tiny woman.

"In a rush?" she asked, smiling.

"Not really, taking the train to Mora. Don't miss me too much, I'll be back in three months."

"Another mission?"

"You could call it that", Emil smiled.

"Good luck then, don't keep them waiting!"

She waved good bye to him and Emil continued through the streets of Östersund. Yes, another mission, that was a way to call it. He pulled at his ponytail. For him, it was his first vacation since he had been made captain. He stopped by the bakery, bought a loaf of bread and made his way to the trainstation. The autumn-breeze felt nice against his face, but since the train was already in he boarded it, found his seat. He hadn't planned the vacation very carefully, but knew what he wanted to do with it. He leaned back in the chair and started eating the bread.

It was ten years since he last saw his first friends, and it was about time to meet them. He had bought the tickets, but he hadn't actually told anyone he would stop by. He probably should have, he mused as he watched the train slowly filling up. Too late now. He pulled a book out of his backpack and started reading. He barely noticed when the train left the station, but obediently offered his ticket when the conductur passed by. The book kept him entertained for the whole trip and a couple of hours later the train pulled to a stop in Mora.

Mora hadn't changed much and he let his mind wander as he walked through the very familiar streets. He had considering booking a hotellroom for the night, but knew Siv and Torbjörn wouldn't mind him stopping by. He stopped outside for a while, looked at the house. He had so many memories connected to that place, but it had still been two years since he had last visited since his work as a captain kept him busy. He knocked the door, heard Torbjörn yell at Siv to open and then he met Siv's eyes. She blinked.

"Emil?"

"Hi Siv."

"Why didn't you..." She pulled him into a hug. "You should have told us you were coming, we would have prepared a nice dinner! How long will you be staying?"

She let him in and he put his backpack next to the door.

"Only until tomorrow, catching an early train to Björköfjärden."

He took off his shoes, followed her inside.

"Torbjörn is in his study, he'll be out later. He'll be so happy to see you."

"I guess the chaos-trio isn't home?"

Siv sank down in the couch next to Emil and shook her head.

"Håkan is over in Norway hunting trolls, Sune is training for the cleansers. Anna is staying at a friend's place. You know it's your fault that they're out there, right?"

Emil laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Yes, I might have influenced them a little, but you can't place all the blame on me."

"I'm not", she ruffled his hair a little and he took it out off the pony tail, pulled his fingers through it. Siv smiled. "You've grown it long."

"It's easier to keep it out of the way like this, and I don't have to worry about cutting it."

"When did you stop caring about that?"

Emil shrugged, leaned back.

"How are you doing? Getting anywhere with the vaccine?"

She shook her head, also leaned back.

"So you're a captain? How is it?"

Emil laughed and told her about what he had been up to the last two years, about the training for the new recruits, about trying to organize them out in the field, about long and boring meetings with the other captains. Siv asked him about his girlfriend and he told her they broke up pretty soon after he became captain. There hadn't been time for him to keep a relationship working and she found someone else to keep her warm the nights he didn't come home. They had seperated on good grounds and still talked with each other.

Siv told him about her continued struggle with the vaccine, about how much his cousins had changed during the last years. Håkan was taking his training as a troll hunter very seriously, and had gotten lots of friends in the Norwegian army. Sune had followed Emil's footsteps and joined the cleanser's unit in Mora. Anna had chosen an academic route and was going to move to Iceland in the spring to further improve her language skills. Torbjörn had started talking about putting together a new expedition into the silent world and Emil laughed again.

"I won't volunteer for it this time."

Torbjörn joined them after an hour and Siv started working on dinner as Emil repeated his news to his uncle. Torbjörn told Emil about his work, he had been promoted just a couple months earlier, but it was still just as boring. The two men joined Siv in the kitchen and Siv and Torbjörn asked Emil about his plans.

"I'll be taking the evening ferry to Finland tomorrow, and then I'll spend a month over there before heading down to Bornholm. Only staying there for a couple of weeks, and then I'll take a ship to Dalsnes. I'm hoping to find a ship to take me to Iceland as well, but I don't count on it and last I heard Reynir had joined the Norwegian army anyway."

"Meeting the old team?"

Emil nodded.

"It's been ten years, I want to see how they're doing."

"It sounds like a nice vacation", Siv said, "I wish we could follow you."

"It wouldn't be the same."

"I understand."

She smiled at him, tried to persuade him to have a little more food since he had gotten so thin, to which Emil laughed and said he had finally gotten into shape. They offered him to stay in the guestroom during the night, and to follow him to the train the next day. Emil thanked, said he had an errand to the bakery before boarding the train. The train left at 9, so he had to leave pretty early and Siv promised she'd make sure he got up in time.

After dinner they went back into the living room, Emil continued talking about how work was going since that was pretty much the only thing in his life for the moment. He had tried to convince his superiors to let him send in looters before they burned down buildings but had so far been turned down. He could however say that they were starting to warm up to the idea, especially after Emil had done it anyway during his last cleansing mission.

"Disobeying orders? I never would have thought that about you!" Torbjörn said and hit his back. "You've changed a lot, Emil."

"I guess", Emil smiled sadly. "I'll blame it on Sigrun. At least I led them there myself!"

Emil thought back to that mission. He had chosen the five most level-headed people from his group and led them to the houses. He had told them to only use the guns or explosives in emergencies and stick to the knives if they saw something. He knew none of them had faced off against a troll earlier, so he had made sure to not split the group up. Two trolls had stumbled over the group, Emil had managed to pull the newbies out of the way and incapacitated the trolls. He had gotten a few deep cuts over his leg during the battle, but they had gotten out with lots of objects from the old world. Ten years earlier Emil hadn't cared much about history, but now that was his main reason for doing it. He didn't care about the extra money it could bring, he made more than enough from his salary.

Around eleven they said goodnight, Emil threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep pretty imediately. He dreamt about Lalli, like he had so many times during the years.

"I'll see you soon", he told Lalli as they leaned against the trees.

Lalli rarely talked in his dreams and Emil worried it was because he had forgotten the other's voice. At Emil's news he looked a bit confused, but still didn't say anything. Emil looked at his friend, tried to remember how he had looked when they first met. During the years Dream-Lalli had slowly changed, as the memories grew more and more distant, and Emil thought he had transferred some of his own quirks onto the other. Both of them had hair reaching halfway to their waists, he was certain Lalli looked less distant now than he had done ten years earlier. His eyes was softer, a smile often played on his lips. Lalli was always dressed in a gray tunic with blue trims and a cape of fur covering his shoulders. Emil never understood why his mind dressed Lalli in those clothes.

"I'll arrive in a couple of days, the ferry leaves tomorrow evening."

Lalli nodded, still didn't speak. Emil liked these quiet dreams, they were a welcome change from the dreams about trolls and giants hunting him and trying to eat him. After coming back from the Silent world he had spent every night the first year in nightmares and they still often came up ten years later. Sometimes it was the people working for him that got attacked, sometimes he dreamt about the days back in Denmark. Usually when he was out on a cleansing mission he took his sleeping bag and made room for himself as far away from the others as he dared.

A deer looked at them, Lalli's eyes followed it. The Finn always seemed a bit curious about the animals in Emil's dreams and Emil guessed it dated back to the horses in Mora. Emil looked at Lalli, tilted his head.

"Do you think about me as much as I think about you, I wonder..."

Lalli looked at him, nodded slowly. Emil laughed, leaned against the tree again.

"Good thing we'll see each other soon."

Lalli smiled one of his rare smiles, as if he knew a secret he wouldn't share with anyone. Emil hit his arm lightly.

"Stop looking so pleased with yourself."

Lalli's smile didn't fade and he leaned back against the tree, closed his eyes. Emil looked at his friend, leaned back himself and closed his eyes, falling asleep again.