About a week after Grace's journey through the train, she was still haunted by what she endured. Hazel wasn't like what she encountered during her time on the train, whether a passenger or null. Sigh, no. Hazel was no null, Grace couldn't say that term without feeling disappointed with herself. That little girl/turtle threw everything she knew out of whack, about the train, about numbers, and about denizens of the trains.

Right now she was sitting right outside the mall car, AKA the former HQ of the Apex, staring right at where she witnessed the death of her once best friend Simon. They were the first human friend the other made when they boarded the train, they did everything together. They shared stories, they played together, they talked for hours, they even started the Apex together when they learned One-One took over. Where they and a bunch of kids they picked up trashed any car that they came across, and wheeling any non-passenger they saw fit without even the slightest hint of remorse.

That was until Hazel came into the picture, Grace didn't know but it was this sweet, kind, and beautiful little girl that would change everything she believed in. She didn't care that she and friend/pet Tuba, a purple gorilla with carrying a tuba, weren't like her. Hazel was like her own daughter, and she actually considers Tuba a friend.

So it was heartbreaking to hear Simon saying 'I wheeled her'.

But it didn't end there, she soon found out that Hazel wasn't a passenger. But instead a shapeshifting turtle girl, made by Amelia in an attempt to recreate her old life with her deceased lover. The same Amelia that Grace and Simon found out was actually the 'conductor' that Grace ran into as a child, and that she wasn't even the real conductor at all. Everything the Apex was built on was nothing more than a mourning widow.

Grace wanted to protect Hazel, but when Simon found out her secret she basically threw her under the bus. She wasn't strong enough to face the truth, she couldn't face the sins of her past. After that, Hazel left with Amelia to find out the truth of what she is, Simon left her in a vegetative state to relieve both her and his pain while he became a tyrant of the Apex. His number going right across his chest, and up his neck, it was higher than any number she ever saw.

While she went down a journey of redemption, he spiraled down a tunnel of insanity. From pulling a Scar-Mufasa on Tuba, to reigning over children with two iron fists, to attempting to wheel his oldest friend after she saved him from certain doom. At that point he was too far gone, too much pain and abandonment, his number rising so far it covered his entire face as he laughs manically.

Then the bug/wolf thingy came in, his life sucked out of his face as his whole body disintegrated in a flesh. Nothing left but the dust right in front of Grace and the kids.

Grace stared at his death spot with a look that read pain, regret, sadness, and self-disappointment. After all he was only a child when he arrived on the train, he needed someone to show him the way. And after he was inadvertently left behind by the Cat, it fell onto her to show him after she saved him from that... whatever it was. But she didn't really do a good job of that, if she was more considerate maybe things would have been different.

"Simon, I am so... so sorry. If only I could have helped you (sniff)." Grace felt tears start to pour down her eyes, as flashes of the times she and Simon spent together. Their introduction, their games, their late night campouts, their first act of vandalism...…. their first kiss.

"Don't beeee worried ba-by

No need to hurry baby, when you're with meee-ee-eee"

As she sang the lullaby from Tuba's funeral, she was joined by a few of the kids she looked after.

"Don't run way up ahead

T-take the long way instead, there's lots to seeeeeee

When you slow down to listen

And you won't go missing chances... to play

We'll always ha-a-a-ave tomorrow

No need to leeeet it borrow... time from… today"

Hearing their former leader cry while she sung made the kids cry as well, some even embracing the broken Grace. She was surprised, but let them as she finished the lullaby she always remember.

"So don't be worried baby

No need to hurry baby, when you're with me

(sniff, wipes her tears) Just take it easy peasy… my liiiiiittle lemon squeezie

You're alwaaaaaaaaaaaaays… wiiiith meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

Grace opened her eyes, "I'm sorry Hazel, I'm sorry Simon. I should have protected you more, I should have been a better friend." She then a hand on her shoulder, she saw one of the kids: Lucy. Short brown hair, an eyepatch, white sweater with red stripe, jorts, and sneakers.

"Hazel sounded like a nice girl." Lucy told her.

"She really was." Grace lamented, "And I hurt her." she sniffled before resting her head on the small girl's shoulder. The cycloptic girl letting her former leader cry as she pat her on the back. "I tried to control her, just like I control you and the others. I'm a horrible person!"

"No you're not." Lucy pulled Grace's face up, "You were just... trying to keep us safe. Did you do some questionable things? Kind of. But do you know the difference between you and Simon?" Grace raised an eyebrow at the question. "You're making an effort to atone for your mistakes, just like Amelia's trying to atone for hers."

"He was a tyrant!" one of the unnamed former Apexians exclaimed.

"You cared for us, and still do. Though you aren't perfect, we couldn't ask for a better leader." Lucy finished.

Grace felt her heart flutter, these kids still looked up to her. And not just in the literal sense. She promised herself that she'd no longer be the person she was before, she's gonna be an example for these young impressionable kids.

"Thanks Lucy, but I can't be your leader." the children were confused, but Grace continued "The decisions you make have to be on your own, the most I can do is guide you through this crazy train."

The kids murmured in agreement, their numbers decreasing ever so slightly. Before they thought it was sign if weakness. But from what Grace told them, sometimes its that by admitting your weakness can you find your inner strength to move forward.

It won't be easy, but Grace will help these kids. She refused to make the same mistake she did with Hazel and Simon. And with the help of her new origami bird friends, she'll get them home. And after that, maybe she can return to her parents. Lord knows how they'll react to seeing her after a decade.

Hopefully she'll get the chance to apologize to Hazel, let her know how much she meant to her.