an: sorry this took forever, depression kicked my ass

please give critiques

Wally awoke at midnight, drenched in sweat.

The anniversary.

He sighed as he rubbed his eyes. It had already been three full years. Three years since Lyla was murdered because of his plan as sector leader. Three years since Sector XX had been disbanded. Three years since he had spent decent time with the only people who'd understand.

"Fuck," he said out loud into the darkness. It was only midnight. He had a long day ahead of him.

He slowly sat up and pulled himself to his feet. He opened the door into the main hallway of the treehouse.

He was so alone.

The only other two members of Sector XX still active in the Kids Next Door both worked on the Moonbase. It was dangerous for them to be seen together, anyways - why would a member of Sector V, a janitor, and a mechanic be talking?

He looked at the door with the "5" on it. Abby was the person he trusted the most in Sector V…

He couldn't. Rule two.

He shook the idea from his head and trudged into the kitchen.

"What you doing up so late?"

He did not expect to find Abby there.

"Uh… water. Was thirsty." He grabbed a cup and filled it in the sink. "Goodnight." He turned to leave.

"Numbuh 4, wait a second."

He turned back around. "What?"

"You seem… off."

Wally put on a fake confused face. "What do you mean? I'm always on! Ready to fight some-"

"Not what I meant, and I think you know that."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I just can't fall asleep, okay?" He tried to sound as annoyed as possible.

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Here. I'll make you some hot chocolate." Abby got up from her seat.

"Don't waste your time. Nothing will help. Believe me; I tried." He was letting his cover down. He couldn't stop himself. He was too tired, too stressed to keep up a full personality.

"You haven't tried Numbuh 5's world famous hot chocolate. Sit."

He reluctantly climbed onto a stool, accidentally slamming his cup of water on the counter. He tried to keep himself from swearing out loud.

"Do you have something on your mind?" Abby asked.

"Just how tired I am," Wally snapped.

Abby sighed. He felt a bit of guilt, but not enough to apologize.

She placed a mug in front of him. "Drink up."

He touched the handle and sighed. Lyla's specialty was hot chocolate. It was so dumb, but he almost broke down.

It had been three years. He should be over it by now.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked. He'd completely forgotten she was there.

"I told you, I'm fine!" he snapped. "God. Just leave me alone!" He stormed back into his bedroom and slammed the door.

Abby stared back at him, perplexed.

The next morning, the sector boarded the school bus together. Wally did not say one word. He could not bring up the energy or willpower to interject anything, even when they were talking about the new Yipper cards or whatever topic they were going off about.

He took his seat next to Kuki. He knew Kuki had a massive crush on him. He knew everyone thought he had one for her. He couldn't handle her immaturity and innocence. He was going to corrupt her if he got any closer.

"Numbuh 4! Did you do all your homework?" She beamed as she showed her math worksheet, done in various colours.

"No. Why would I do my cruddy homework?" It was boring anyways. He already knew all the information. One of the perks of being a former member of Sector XX.

"Numbuh 4," Kuki whined. "You're going to get a bad grade!"

He shrugged. "I don't need no cruddy school."

"If you don't start working, they're not going to let you pass sixth grade!"

Wally frowned and sat back in the seat. He crossed his arms. He could pass, that's for sure. He was pretty sure he could probably skip to ninth grade and be fine.

Curse Sector XX's schooling.

"She's right," Hoagie stepped in.

Wally sighed. He was not in the mood for lecturing from a bunch of immature idiots. He knew how to handle himself. He'd had no sleep the night before, the day was bringing back so many memories-

"...they're going to hold you back."

He hadn't even realized he'd started spacing out. "I'll pass. I'm not stupid or anything." Keep the mask up, keep it up…

Only a couple more minutes until he could get lost in the chaos of the middle school hallways. Sure, he had class with Abby, but he could avoid her.

"He's not gonna listen," Abby butted in. "Anyways, what do you think we're gonna do in gym today?"

Wally said a silent "thank you" to Abby, even though he was mad at her, and mad at himself for screaming at her earlier that morning.

The other members of Sector XX went to the same school. They never spoke. They couldn't without any risk. But that was the one day they broke the rules.

Numbuh 300, also known as Janet, was standing next to his locker. He opened it carefully, taking out a notebook.

"Today's the day," she said. Her height made her intimidating to all the other children walking by. She was the oldest of the remaining kid-aged members of the sector at twelve years old.

"Yeah," Wally said. He slowly shut the locker, glad that he'd escaped his countless friends.

"Three years."

"I can count too," he snapped.

"Jesus. Calm down."

"I'm calm." He rolled his eyes. They walked slowly through the hallway. "Where's Jeremy?"

"Triple six's probably late. I have math with him, and he's never been on time."

Wally smirked. "Classic."

"I'm here, I'm here." Jeremy ran up to them, panting. "Weird, huh Numbuh 4? We're all in middle school now."

"Yeah, it's been like that for the past three months."

"Exactly. But we never talk. Good to see you, Four."

"You too, Triple Six."

"Hey, I'm Numbuh 667."

"If you choose a numbuh one off from the number of the beast, you're in for a bad time." Janet rolled her eyes. "So shut up."

They walked in silence, each others' presence a reminder of the day.

"How's active duty?" Janet asked.

"Boring. How's 2x4 tech?"

"Too easy. Jeremy, how's sweeping?"

"Calming. Relaxing. Meditative. My favourite."

He wasn't being sarcastic.

"I can't believe that a member of the legendary Sector XX now works at the Moon Base as a janitor."

"Cleaning up your crap! Do you know how long it took to clean up all that salt after you guys crashed your ship right into the pretzel shop?!"

"We saved your butts."

"From what? Our candy being taken?" Janet rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. It saved us a few dollars and trips to the candy store. Worth it, in my opinion." Wally sighed. No matter how long he'd been working with Sector V, it never stopped feeling stupid.

"Where's the rest of your sector, anyways?" Jeremy looked around. "The famous, legendary Sector V. Our saviors! Where could they be?!"

"Shut it," Wally hissed. "I have class with Numbuh 5 next. We can't be seen together."

"The worst member of Sector V doesn't want to be seen with a lowly janitor. I'm hurt."

Wally rolled his eyes and slipped into class, taking his seat next to Abby.

"Where were you?" she asked immediately.

"Got lost." He was dumb enough that she didn't question it.