Winter soon shifted to spring for Amber and Five. Both teens have grown accustomed to living with the other even though some of their faults were beginning to show. Five's meticulousness on what they should do, what they should eat, and how long they spent doing things were starting to get on Amber's nerves. Maybe it was because she was never fully in control of her own being before but now that she had, she didn't want Five to plan all aspects of their days. Sometimes she wanted to remain in places longer, at least more than two day but Five always told her they needed to leave for survival. Would it really hurt to spend three days somewhere Amber thought since some places had the comfort that they could be energized and had some small things to do in order to break their days.

Both teens had a bit of tempers to them too and when they got into arguments, both were stubborn and often didn't speak for the rest of the day if they didn't come to any sort of compromise or apologies. Five should have realized Amber having fire powers might have made her at times a hot head but that was his mistake. Amber's relationship with food also bothered Five since she either gorged a bit too much or went without so he could have more. Food was a frequent argument point since, although they often had enough for a few days, they needed to be mindful of what they ate, what they needed to eat, and how much. Five couldn't understand why Amber never understood that despite their frequent loots they needed to preserve food. He gets it, at times even what they ate was enough to sate a hunger not make them full but they didn't have that luxury anymore in the apocalypse.

Amber and Five were taking a break from looting the city they were in by reading Extra Ordinary together. Amber's stomach was beginning to growl and she looked over to Five whose eyes were glued into the book.

"Five are you getting hungry?" she asked.

"Not really. Besides we just had lunch."

Amber rolled her eyes since their lunch had been roaches and a can of spam for each of them. She heard her stomach growl again and got up to go for her wagon for another can of food. Five slammed the book shut and blipped next to the wagon. He had just told them they had just ate and Amber was not listening to him.

"Amber, we need to save food. We just had lunch." Five argued.

"I'm still hungry. In fact, I still might be starving so move aside!" Amber yelled.

"Well that was your fault for giving me the rest of your creamed corn for breakfast after I insisted you eat it." Five states.

"Oh, I think I heard your stomach still growling still afterwards and I had enough of it. Sorry I care so much about you!"

"Do you? Since I think your strange relationship of either starving or gorging on food isn't caring about us at all. Do you forget we are in an apocalypse!"

Amber rolled her eyes. She wasn't stupid and just shook her head.

"So that means we have a finite source of food. If we run out, we have to resort to eating roaches until we both die or escape. I know you don't want that Amber."

"I was just going to get a can of sliced pineapples! You don't care as much for them so why does it matter if I take them! You have no idea what my life was like before!"

Five scoffed since he has heard the tales of her circus life and constant travel. He's also heard her bellyache about missing the access to her circus cafeteria and had many well-cooked meals. So yeah, he's heard them.

"I get it, you're missing home..."

This made Amber's eyes widened and her face turn red.

"I don't miss my home Five! The circus was hell! They abused me to perform and the only person ever cared for me is now dead! What does my home or the circus have to do with me just wanting a little more food if I am hungry!"

"We need to be mindful of our food Amber. Listen I know you've been struggling these past months, but you need to adjust. We can't go through our food like a luxury. It's not like before where you performed for your dinner and got it when you wanted"

"That's both an understatement and not true." Amber muttered under her breath.

She grabbed a can of pineapple slices only to Five for her to grab her wrist. His normally soft brown eyes glared angrily at her.

"Let go." he growled.

"You let go Five." Amber hissed.

Both teens stared each other down and Amber was thinking whether or not to use her fire powers to make him let her go. She didn't want to hurt him with her fire since she did care for him. Her stomach growled once more and Five rolled his eyes.

"When I tell you to eat you really should try savoring your bites and not give me any food. You wouldn't have this problem now if you just eat smarter of what I give you."

"Is that a jab at me for not having a formal education!? Maude taught me all she could on the road!"

Five hated when she wasn't rational and just picked parts of his words to fight over. When she was witty and smart, she was great. When she was over irrational and over emotional in a negative way; she annoyed him to no end.

"You know that isn't what I meant Amber. God why are we even fighting? We will have dinner when the sun sets and I've planned for us..."

"Again, with micromanaging what we eat! Let us just eat what we want in moderation and we will get through this together! Please let's just stop fighting!" Amber exclaimed.

Five looked over her and he couldn't help but feel that maybe she was only using him and he muttered under his breath which made Amber angry.

"Whatever you have to say I rather you ça sur mon visage!"

Say it to her face, oh I will say it to your face Five thought angrily.

"Okay fine here it is. Maybe the carny is just using me and toying with me so I'll feed her. Once I am no use, you'll abandon me and leave me alone! How's that for saying it to your pretty little face of yours Amber!"

Amber said nothing at first. She lingered on the carny word since he was saying that to hurt her. Tears started to form but she shook her head. She didn't have to take this as she dropped the can back into the wagon. Amber was about to storm off and tell him to screw off but she couldn't. Amber wanted to remain with Five but she felt so angry at him that she couldn't forgive him just yet. Instead of saying anything, she slugged him in the face with her free hand. Five let go of her wrist and touched where Amber punched him. He scoffed when he didn't feel any blood spilling from his lip and shook his head.

"You're still holding back Amber." he scoffed.

Amber ignored him and got into her fighting stance.

"Shut up and just spar with me! If I win you can't dictate what I can eat anymore!" Amber sneered.

"Fine, but if I win, you'll have to listen to me about the food and we won't have this argument ever again!" Five stated as he got into his fighting stance as well.

Amber lunged at him with an aerial kick but Five stepped her and attempted a low sweep kick. Amber fell to the ground with his kick but swiftly got up and low kicked him causing Five to react and step back. She saw Five coming at her with combo punches but she cartwheeled out of the way, causing Five to nod.

"Relying on your old tricks?" Five questioned.

This made Amber chuckle.

"If they work, why not right?"

She went at him with a flurry of punches but Five just dodged out of the way. He grabbed her arm which only prompted her to knee kick him in the torso hard to escape. Amber raised her eyebrow at him and asked,

"For someone who wants to settle this, why are you holding back!?"

Five scoffed and mentioned,

"Then this would be over in seconds Amber if I showed my powers. How can you stop me when I can teleport to avoid your movements?"

"I'll manage." she scoffed.

They traded a couple of blows, nothing more than punches and kicks and nothing that drew blood. As they fought, Five did show a bit of his teleportation powers to show off and this caused Amber to both scoff at and be impressed with him. Five did wonder why Amber never used her powers to fight. He would know it would just distract him or make him focus on dodging, yet she never did that.

"Why aren't you using your fire Amber? You're pissed and want to eat right? Why not just use your fire and end this now?" Five asked.

Amber groaned and shook her head.

"I don't want to burn that handsome face. Besides I don't want to kill anyone again and fire can leave life threatening burns."

Five was caught off guard by this since she hadn't mentioned killing anyone, just escaping the circus with her temporal fire power. Amber felt her body shake as fire started to circle around her wrists. Tears fell as she noticed what was happening. She wasn't in full control of her powers and she worried that she was going to cause serious harm, causing her to panic even more.

"No, I don't want to hurt you!" Amber exclaimed.

Five slowly approached her while keeping an eye on her wrists. Amber shot a warning shot at him by his feet. She didn't hit his feet, just the ground in front of him.

"You're not going to Amber, just tell me what you mean by not killing anyone again." Five softly asked. Amber was shaking and felt her throat closing up. She started to panic and noticed Five was moving closer. He stroked her cheek and gently put his hands on her face.

"Breathe Amber, breathe. Calm down and take slow breaths. Close your eyes if you need to, calm your inner fire." Five advised.

Amber closed her eyes and took deep slow breaths in and out. She felt the anger and her fire slowly lessen and felt the fire around her wrists subside. Amber opened her eyes and Five looked concerned.

"Blip behind me and lift up my shirt. Once you see my marque du diable I'll tell you what I left out of my tale." Amber told him.

Five used his powers to get behind her and lifted her shirt up. There was no satanic or pentagram on her, but he saw what Amber had to be referring to as the devil's mark. On her left shoulder blade there was a fist sized tattoo of a dagger stabbing the planet Saturn. He traced the tattoo with his finger which did cause Amber to shudder. He frowned at the tattoo since she knew Amber wouldn't have gotten this voluntarily.

"What is this tattoo for?" Five asked.

Amber took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts.

"When I was eight my father forced me to get the mark of their circus like cult. It is their sign of them conquering and mastering the three-ring circus. I had no choice but to perform, more so when they saw I had real powers. My powers were trained and worked with but I had no choice in the matter. I had to work for my meals, if I didn't train or perform, I would get no food. When my powers went out and I couldn't perform for days, I nearly starved to death. When it had been awhile, they would only feed me crackers or five peanuts. This happened more times I would like to admit."

Those bastards were starving her so she would have no choice but parade her powers he thought as he put the shirt down. Amber turned to face him and guilt was slowly forming on his face. This is why Amber seems hungrier for food some days, she never fully knew if her powers would burn out and made sure she had enough food to last if she couldn't perform. This also explained why she would give him leftover food; she knew what feeling starved felt like and he didn't want him to feel that way. She did care for him which made the sickening feeling in his stomach feel even worse.

"I-I had no idea Amber." Five finally said.

"I know since I am telling you know. You're the first people I told but really who could have I told at the circus? The other acts and people saw me as the ringleader's daughter, why would I have to complain. I got the best costumes to perform and was the star of the circus, what would they have to feel sorry for me. They didn't know I sometimes had to burn my own toys for training because my mother wanted to see my powers were active. They didn't know I ate late because they would train me for hours until they deemed, I could eat. They didn't know some nights I would cry myself to sleep, praying for strength that I can someday leave and never have subject myself to their pain ever again."

Five brought Amber to their makeshift sleeping quarters to sit down and chat more. Amber took a deep breath.

"The day I escaped and met you...My father had the sword master kill Maude in front of me while the strong man held me in his arms so I couldn't move. I never wanted to use my powers to hurt people since that would label me the monster most people in the circus would call me. A part of me snapped when Maude was stabbed and dismembered in front of me. My anger blinded me and I stabbed the sword master with my fire conjured swords until I burned and killed him. My way out was a burning sphere that encased me and time traveled to you...The explosion killed my parents and a lot of the circus performers. I've been trying to process and grieve Maude's loss in this future...and also dealing with the fact I am a monster and murderer..."

Five grabbed her hand gently and stroked it.

"You're not a monster Amber. They had no right to do all those things to you. Their deaths were deserved and you finally fought back. I might have never met Maude, but she sounded like a mother to you more than your birth one. I'm sorry you had these feelings swirling in you and I never knew." Five told her.

"We had a lot of problems like food and survival... I'm sorry about wanting more food. You're right, we need to save and eat when we need to." Amber told him.

"No, I'm sorry. For everything, the words, our fight, and not realizing that food was dangled in front of you to be their circus pet. If you need to eat an extra can you can. I'm sure I can use my powers to blip to far places to get more food and restock our supplies." Five apologized.

"You would come back to me, right?" Amber asked in a worried tone.

"Of course, I never want to leave you... I don't want you to leave either." Five expressed.

That made Amber smile as she looked into the fire. She rested her head on his shoulder and thought about this really bad day. However, some good came out of it since this was the first time she was dealing with her guilt and pain of what had occurred the day she ran away. Five wasn't looking at her like a monster and he was caring for her. He supported and listened to her as she told about her abuse and loss of her best friend. In time Amber thought she would make peace with herself. They sat in silence for a while and Five watched her and continued to stroke her hand. When Amber finally looked at him, she was smiling even if it did have some pain to it.

"I never told anyone else about my pain before. Maude knew since I told her and she would see the abuse too. Sometimes I thought I deserved it...but talking with you has been very...comforting. Now I fully understand just how hurtful my parents were to me and that I never deserved to be their daughter. It might take me time to move on from what they did and to make peace with it. Will you be with me to help?"

"Of course, I will Amber. I'm not going to leave you. We're in this together now." Five told her with a soft smile.

Five raised up his sleeve to show his Umbrella Academy tattoo. She traced it with her finger and she seemed enamored with it.

"I wish your father might have taken me...either when I was a baby or that night."

"He was there at the circus?" Five questioned.

"Yes, he was. He wanted to know if I pushed my powers to their fullest potential and mentioned temporal flame travel. He even told me to express my desires five times...he wanted this to happen, didn't he?" he asked.

"I wouldn't put it past the old man. He was always fascinated with our powers. Still why tell me I wasn't ready for time travel and my powers are normally in that skill set yet for you he just thrusts that upon you so you go blindly to god knows where. My father makes no sense." Five expressed.

Amber cuddled close to him and mused,

"Maybe he wanted me to bring you home? Still, my powers of time travel in an untrained state would maybe just bring back a charred corpse. I wouldn't want to time travel with my fire again unless I know exactly how to do it and if I am able to project myself in the time I want."

Makes sense Five thought, after all time was a crap shoot. Amber nuzzled into his neck which caused Five's heart to skip a beat.

"I've decided that no matter how much we fight or get pissed at each other I'm going to remain with you Five. You've been there for me and even with our arguments, I know in the end we never want to hurt each other."

This made Five grin since this cast away any fears of Amber ever leaving him behind. Amber truly was making this apocalypse much more endurable. He knew what it was like to be alone and he didn't want that ever again. "I never want to hurt you too. I was being a jerk. We can maybe split a can if we need extra food. We will figure something out since I don't want to make you feel like you're starving." Amber nodded and she felt her stomach growling again.

"Five I know you said we should wait until the sun goes down, but I really need some more food now." Amber begged.

"You know, I can go for a little food myself. Let's grab a can of pineapples for you and canned apple slices for me and get some of our energy back." Five told her.

Amber smiled and they went to grab a can of fruit to eat. They spent the rest of the day talking about their family lives and their demons in order to start making peace with their past. No matter what happened going forward, they would always have each other for the good and the bad times. This day showed them that no matter how bad things would get between them, the good times weren't far behind.