A/N: This is a bit of a sidenote chapter, because I find the whole Mag and Zone thing really interesting, and so I just had to have them talk. But it does have relevance, promise.

"We literally become what we do, not what we've done or will do. We're best defined by our actions in the moment." (Bennett Halverson, Epitaph Two)

Afterwards, they all went to gather together their belongings, preparing to leave and never come back. Michael sat with Cam in the main space, gazing around at the Dollhouse. He had learnt more about it in the year since he had last been inside, thanks to Adelle. It amazed him that this spa-like environment had spawned such destruction.

"Hey."

He looked up to see a slim, red-headed young woman on makeshift crutches approaching him. They hadn't had a chance to speak yet.

Cam looked up too. She grinned. "Are you her? Are you Mag?"

The woman smiled back. "I was. It's Lucy again now." She sat down opposite them, turning her gaze to Michael.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy," he said, smirking.

"And you?" she asked. "Are you still Zone?"

He shook his head. "No. Michael. And..."

"I'm Cam. Camilla. And I'm so excited to meet you! Michael's told me lots about you."

"Oh! Well..." Lucy laughed nervously. "It's good to meet you, Cam. Are you okay? Is... Michael looking after you alright?" She raised an eyebrow at her old comrade.

"Oh, yes, he's great. Well, you know, mostly. He can't, like, do hair or anything... and he's a bit-"

"Okay, Cam," interrupted Michael, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Why don't you go and find Addie?"

Cam opened her mouth, looked from Michael to Lucy, and closed it again. With a loud sigh, she stood up. "Fine, okay. But I can talk you later, right?" she asked Lucy, who nodded, smiling, before Cam headed off.

Lucy grinned at Michael. "Addie?"

Michael gave her a look. "So how's your year been?"

"Oh, you know. Dreadfully dull. I've been living underground whilst you've been pioneering a new civilisation."

"The little Asian?" Michael asked.

Lucy smiled. "Well, there have been bright spots. So," she asked, using her crutches to manoeuvre herself into the empty space beside Michael, "have they reopened Berkeley yet?"

He laughed. "Not quite. There's a lot of call for landscape architects, though."

"I suppose so." Lucy sighed. "It's so strange, Z... Michael. I've had a lot of time to think, down here. And... we fought together for two years, trying to resist the tech, stay safe and hold onto ourselves. But I don't know you, and you don't know me. We gave ourselves codenames. It seems like it doesn't really matter that we didn't get wiped."

"Yeah. I know. It's... Once the tech happened, nothing could ever be the same, could it? Well, it's a new start for everyone now. And a few centuries – maybe just decades – down the line, some fool will come up with a way to bring civilisation crashing down again."

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

Michael gave his barking laugh. "Well, come on. It's just human nature, isn't it? People are power hungry. Or just curious... and look where it gets us."

Lucy didn't reply, and they sat in silence for a moment. Then she asked, "I thought you weren't going to come back? I thought you were going to take off, find some place safe on the sidelines, and watch the new world go by? Get away from all this."

"Yeah, I thought so too," he replied. "But... I couldn't. At first, there was just a lot to do – all these people waking up and only me and Addie knew what had happened. So I stuck around, to help with that... and then there was more to do, and this, and that... and Adelle didn't have anyone else, you know? I couldn't leave her to do all that work on her own."

Lucy looked at him, surprised. "Really? I would have thought that's exactly what you'd do. I thought you didn't want anything to do with that stuff. I thought you didn't like Adelle."

Michael hesitated before replying. "There was just the two of us. The war was over. Her friend had just died. Everything changed."

"And now you're rebuilding the world, side by side, her right hand man. And to think she threatened to chop off your tongue and boil it in the soup."

Michael grinned. "She still does, sometimes."