"Hey, Five?" He hummed in acknowledgement as he reached into the back, removing the canvas bag he used to carry Delores with. "What exactly are we doing back at Gimbel Brothers?"

"I have something important to do." I snickered a little as he opened the car door.

"What, you here to get the rest of Delores' friends?" His glare immediately silenced me. "Sorry, that's... actually not funny.

I followed Five into the department store, a strange feeling settling in my stomach. I had never seen this place in the daytime, full of life and bargain-hunting customers. Mothers pushed their slumbering babies in strollers as they looked through pairs of jeans, some teenagers darted in and out through the clothing racks, and children lingered behind their mothers, staring up at all of the glittering gowns and sharp suits. Workers moved around and asked if any customers needed their assistance. The world inside had moved on from the attacks that damaged the store, acting as though nothing had even happened in the first place. There were still bullet holes in walls and signs, but no one paid them any mind.

I hung back a little, leaning against one of the racks, as Five approached the stand where he had first found Delores. I suddenly understood, very clearly, what he was about to do as he removed the bag from his back and unzipped it, revealing the top half of his beloved mannequin. He needed his space for this sort of thing, but that wasn't to say I wouldn't watch as he did this.

Carefully, he set the battered and burnt Delores back where she had been found, much shorter now since her legs had gone missing.

"Hey," Five muttered before looking down at his feet, unable to find the right words. Strangely, I found my breath hitching in my throat, causing one hand to fly to my chest. "I bet it feels good to be back... amongst your friends." My eyes briefly flashed to the other mannequins. "And it's okay, you can... say it. We always were an unlikely pair. This isn't easy for me, Delores, and I..." My heart broke as Five's voice warbled slightly. "I want you to know I cherish every single moment I ever shared with you, all 23 and a half million of them. A lifetime. Now look at us. We're lucky enough, we get a second one." He paused for a moment, as though hearing her speak in his mind. "Yeah," he laughed. "You are right. I do have a lot of growing up to do. I'll never forget you, Delores."

I found myself wiping away a few tears as Five turned and picked up the now empty bag. Sure, she was nothing but painted plastic, but Five had relied on her for so long. She had been his crutch, the thing that kept him company after the rest of us had passed. To our siblings, and myself, she was just this inanimate object Five carried around, further supporting the fact he may have lost his mind. But she meant something to him. Even if he understood she couldn't possibly be alive and offer him affection, he chose to stick with her. Giving her up looked as though it took everything in him, and after taking a step back, I understood why.

"Come here," I muttered as he turned around to look up at me, eyes shimmering with the threat of tears.

Normally, I'd get some sort of scoff or snarky comment from him, pretending he was too grown up to run to his sister for support. But after such a vulnerable nerve had been struck, the wall of arrogance fell away, and he attached himself to my side like Velcro. Walking with an extra set of legs proved to be a bit of a challenge at first, but we quickly fell into a rhythm of ease. Just before we left the store, an idea popped into my head, and I turned to a worker in a bright yellow vest sorting some of the women's sweaters.

"Excuse me, miss?" She turned to me with a bright customer-service smile.

"Yes?"

"Could you give that mannequin something new to wear?" I glanced down at my brother, a smile slowly growing on his face as we met eyes.

"She likes sequins."

Just as the worker's pleasant expression turned to confusion, I pat her on the shoulder and led my brother out the doors and back to my car. His shoulders immediately slumped, causing him to slide down in the leather seat. He looked as though the life had been sucked out of him, leaving only the husk of a body. Both of us had been left defeated, unable to help ourselves or our family. We both needed to quit wallowing, refresh and reset before tackling the bigger issue at hand.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked abruptly, breaking the mournful silence.

"What?" He sniffled, sitting up a little straighter and moving to buckle his seat belt.

"We both need food," I asserted. "It's getting close to dinner time, and to be completely honest, I don't want to go back to the house yet. So, where do you want to go?" He smiled a little, chuckling to himself.

"I suppose Griddy's isn't a good baseline for a meal?" I laughed as I shook my head.

"Under any other circumstance, I'd go for it. But yeah, I think we need to have something a little more substantial than that."

He fell silent again, eyes moving out the window to watch the stagnant world, only occasionally breaking from its stillness when the breeze moved some leaves along. The weight still bore down our shoulders, causing definite slouches in both our postures. The time for the end of the world had passed, so why were we still left feeling like we'd lost? No matter what, our lives had always been filled with that bitter sting, lingering in the limbs and veins long after incidents had passed.

"There's still that one diner downtown, right?" Five's voice croaked a little, but his words rang clear.

"Yeah. I went there a little while ago with Klaus." My eyes moved down to the steering wheel, despite the fact I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of at this point. "I can't really tell you how the food is, but he seemed to enjoy it, so... there's that." Five's smile returned as he looked to me again, offering reassurance he had been reluctant to give before.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Never, in my life, did I think I'd hear my brother utter a genuine apology. Yet, these past few days, I'd been getting quite a lot of them. His experiences had changed him, and for the better. "About the relapsing and undermining you."

"You got a shock to the system... no pun intended." We both laughed a little, breaking the tense air. "You've seen a lot more than you should have, and... and I never took that into consideration when I did and said everything I have this past week. But now, that's all behind us. I know you can't forget—believe me—but at least you can try and move on, right?"

"Yeah..." I shook my head as I started the car.

"You said you had a lot of growing up to do, kid. That's true... but both of us do. I mean, look at me. I'm almost thirty and I'm more emotional than... well, you." Carefully, I reached around and started the car. "Like I said, we'll get there. And I'm here for you, whatever you need and whenever you need it."

"Ah, you're just saying that because you're my sister," he scoffed.

"Oh, please. I think we've learned over the last eight days alone that this whole 'siblings' concept is complete and utter bullshit. I mean, I know we're related, but we call everyone else brothers and sisters, and they do the same to each other, but things still wouldn't support that. Just look at Allison and Luther."

"I'll never understand that," Five muttered.

"Because we were all raised as 'siblings', or because she's too good for Mr. Dad-Sent-Me-to-the-Moon?" Five burst out laughing again, bringing a smile to my face. I hadn't seen him this happy since we were little. It was reassuring to know some of that joy and childishness still laid dormant in him.

With the sadness dispelled for the time being, I drove the two of us to the little diner downtown and waited for the hostess to lead us to a table. The whole time, Five hung to my side, as though he thought if he let go, I would disappear forever. Back when we were kids, I would have pushed him away or started teasing him, but now, I just felt the overwhelming sense to protect him. In the few days Five had been back, he changed from my twin that we all had some issues with to the little brother we needed to keep safe under all circumstances. The others still saw him as a little shit sometimes, even I had my moment, but now that the threat of the end of the world had passed... we almost had become what a normal family should be.

Aside from the sister we had trapped in the basement.

I skidded a little down the leathery seat of the booth as Five and I slid in, quickly snatching up the menus the hostess had set down for us. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I tried to adjust to the idea of actually looking at a menu and weighing my options, instead of just pretending to take a glance before proclaiming I wasn't hungry. There were so many foods I hadn't allowed myself to enjoy in years, resorting to the bare minimum so I could fit an unrealistic image that, in my mind, equated to success and perfection- an image that was synonymous with control.

No more with that bullshit. If they wanted to fire me or demote me for the way I looked, they could do it. It wasn't worth the risk to my own health.

"You never really told me about what happened in those 17 years I was in the future," Five pointed out as he took a sip from his coffee mug. Was it responsible of me to let him have caffeine this late in the day? No. But did I really give a shit? Definitely not. I could let some things slide for one day.

"I think we both know it's not exactly an uplifting story." For some reason, I laughed a little, as though that automatically made the context of the situation less depressing.

"I can handle it." I stared at my brother for a moment, just blinking, before shrugging my shoulders. "When did you leave?"

"Not long after Diego," I answered. "I waited until I had enough money to get my own place and sustain myself to go. I don't remember if I said bye to Dad or not, to be completely honest... but I always tried with him. I'd send him tickets to my shows, even though somewhere deep down, I knew he wouldn't even look at them. He never had time for any of us, I know that, but I always held out just a little bit of hope."

"Not the wisest decision, Mina." Five paused as he took another sip of his coffee. "Since when did you start believing in people, anyways?"

"Just because we're twins, doesn't mean we have the same outlook on everything," I laughed. "I've always had faith in people, it just got more selective the older we got." We both got quiet for a moment, turning to our food and allowing that to fill the silence, rather than forced attempts at conversation.

"Everyone gets more cynical with age."

"You don't count," I shot back playfully. "You were mad at the world the moment you were born." He went quiet again, his face falling slightly. "You've always cared about me, though, and the rest of our siblings. And they've noticed that, trust me."

"Well, at the end of the day, you are my sister. I'm stuck with you, and vice versa." I smiled as he threw my words from earlier back at me.

"I couldn't be happier about that."

Once dinner had been finished and paid for, Five hugged me again, and we headed out to my car and back toward home. I held out the hope that if we played our cards right, we'd be able to get Vanya out of that chamber in the basement in time for her concert. I still wanted to see her play, and I knew Five did as well.

Unfortunately, we wouldn't get that chance.

I had just pulled up in front of the house and parked, when a loud explosion ricocheted in my ears, forcing the ground below us to violently shake. Other people walking by stopped and darted their eyes around, confused and panicked. For a moment, I tried to sort through everything, attempting to figure out what happened.

And then my mind snapped back to what happened earlier, right before we'd found Luther guarding Vanya.

My eyes widened as the familiar building trembled, though the rest of the ground remained stable, and bits of rubble started to fall away from the outside. Fingers of cracks started to crawl across windows, threatening to shatter onto the ground below at any moment.

"Shit," I muttered. "We're too late!"

My siblings weren't out here... which meant they were still in the Academy.

I had to go after them.

I turned to Five and stared him down, pointing a finger back toward the car.

"You stay here. I'm not about to lose you, okay? I'm going back in there to get them." Immediately, his face crumpled, looking as though he were having war flashbacks.

"But, Mina, last time-"

"This isn't last time, is it?" I snapped. "I'm going in there and getting our brothers and sisters, you're staying here. I promise you that, at the very least, they'll make it out alive." He reached out, wrapping his arms around my waist and refusing to budge. "Five, you have to let go of me."

"No! You already died twice, I'm not letting it happen a third time!"

"Five!" I pushed him away, crouching down to meet his eyes. "Look, I know this isn't the time for this, but I'm going to say it anyways. You said it yourself, I've already died twice. Maybe... maybe it's just supposed to happen."

"You can't-"

"I know we've fought a lot over the years, and I was mad at you for so long- too long- but you've been the best brother I could ask for." I squeezed him tighter than I had any other time. "I love you, kid. Take care of the others if I don't make it out."

Instead of protesting, he pulled me in for another hug.

"I love you, too, Mina."

With one last look at the glimmering '4', I turned on my heel and threw open the gates, running straight into the crumbling fray.