The small teal platypus came further into the room, an odd expression on his face. "I was watching the ceremony," he said steadily. "I thought you were going to faint, by the end of it."

That was it. That was the peak of embarrassment for Trudie. She stood up quickly and glared at her rival. "I'm fine, see!"

She was wrong. She hadn't reached the peak of her embarrassment yet. THAT happened when her wobbly legs gave out right in front of Perry, and she had to sit heavily back down again. She growled, pushing out her hand to halt Perry as the platypus came nearer.

Bjørn was looking very worried now. "I-I think you should get a medic."

"NO!" Trudie growled at him. "I'm fine."

Then a familiar voice sounded from the doorway: "Trudie! Congratulations on your medal!"

Trudie froze. No…! Is it really…?!

Slowly, she looked up.

It WAS her. Her brown hair was longer now, and she was wearing O.W.C.A. uniform, but Trudie had spent four years training her; she knew what Mavis Monogram looked like.

The girl was smiling, which was rare for her. In the time Trudie had known her, she had discovered that Mavis was a lot like her. Apart from the panic disorder, they both disliked being the centre of attention, they were both a little cold (in Trudie's case, VERY cold), and they both had desires to become great operatives—or agents, in Mavis's case.

"Congratulations on becoming O.W.C.A.'s top agent," Trudie said, a little too monotonously.

Mavis smiled briefly, but soon she was looking just as worried as Bjørn and Perry. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just a little ill," replied Trudie. "I'll be fine."

Mavis hesitated, not looking entirely convinced. "Okay. By the way, Kallisto also wants to see you."

Trudie froze. Kallisto Kennedy...was Trudie's all time favourite apprentice. She was the one who had left the S.A.B. to use those skills in order to become a better lawyer. Trudie had actually seen her in court several times; Trudie was also a licensed prosecutor. She had even taken Kallisto on in court once. That was the only trial Trudie had ever lost. And it was the first time she had felt okay about losing. It meant that the student had surpassed the teacher, which was the entire reason Trudie trained recruits up in the first place.

Finally, she said, "Is she here?"

"She's outside," Mavis replied. "I can tell her to leave, if you want."

Trudie shook her head. "Bring her in. It'll be nice to talk to my favourite trainee again."

Both Mavis and Bjørn flinched at that, but Trudie didn't care. She was annoyed, humiliated, overwhelmed, and feeling like she was about to throw up or faint or both. Her restraint had flown out the window a long time ago.

Mavis left the room and came back a few seconds later with Kallisto Kennedy in tow. She folded her arms, looked Trudie up and down, and smirked. "You've aged."

Despite the situation, Trudie managed to chuckle. "You haven't. What's the secret?"

"A successful career."

Bjørn sighed. "Now I see why she's your favourite trainee."

With one more person in the room, Trudie's anxiety was beginning to catch up with her. Especially since they were all focusing on her. She was able to be in a crowded room, like the canteen when eating her meals, but not when everyone was focusing on her. She leant back in her chair and closed her eyes. "One of you needs to leave."

None of them moved.

"We're worried about you," Perry said frankly. "Just look at you; none of us have ever seen you like this before, and we've known you for several decades combined. Come on, we're your friends."

Trudie opened her eyes and scrutinised the four people in front of her. Her old rival and three former trainees. That was all she could see.

And yet...some part of her wanted attention from them. Some part of her wanted Kallisto to hug her, Mavis to stay next to her, Bjørn to keep talking to her. But first, she had to clear the air.

She turned to him. "Bjørn-."

"What were you trying to tell me before you went onstage?" Bjørn asked before she could continue.

Trudie sighed. "I was trying to tell you that my argument with you all those years ago... I never meant for it to turn out the way it did."

Bjørn frowned. "What?"

"It reminded me of my last words to my father," Trudie murmured. "When I was twenty, we had an argument in the street. I told him to go to hell. He replied exactly the same way you did."

""With you here, I'm already there."?" Bjørn questioned.

Trudie nodded slowly. "When you said that, it set me off. I didn't mean to scream at you. I just remembered that those words were the last things my father said to me before he walked into the road and was hit by a car right in front of me."

"Oh, Trudie...!" Mavis inhaled sharply.

Kallisto moved closer to Trudie and squeezed her shoulder, while Bjørn gently took her hand.

"I don't mean to be so horrible to you all," Trudie whispered softly. "I just...I can't get close to people again because of what will happen to them. If I don't make friends, I won't argue with them, and then it won't hurt so much when they leave. Except...it didn't work." She glanced up at two of her former apprentices. "Mavis, Bjørn...it hurt when you left. It hurt because you were two of my favourite trainees. I'm proud of you, Mavis, for becoming O.W.C.A.'s top human agent and I'm proud of Bjørn for earning fourth best human O.W.C.A. agent as well. It just hurt because I was getting accustomed to the idea of you two being around forever. But I should have known that wouldn't happen." She met Kallisto's eyes. "Kal, you were-and still are-my greatest success. But I was still horrible to you. I...I think you-."

"Don't say anything else," Perry interrupted quickly. "We forgive you."

Trudie eyeballed the teal platypus. "You're the last person who should be saying that."

Perry shrugged. "You're not my only rival and you're certainly not my worst. We just butted heads because of how different we are. That's nobody's fault."

"Besides, the three of us owe you everything," Mavis contributed. "I would never be even an agent of O.W.C.A., let alone top human agent, without your training."

"And I wouldn't be such a successful lawyer," Kallisto added.

"You helped me more than you know," Bjørn murmured softly. "Remember how scared and jumpy I was when I first arrived here?"

Trudie nodded.

"Well, you turned me into the confident agent I am today. On my first day of training, I literally screamed when you gave me a gun."

Trudie chuckled weakly, remembering that day.

"And now, I can fire, assemble, disassemble, and identify over sixty makes and models of gun," Bjørn continued. "YOU made that happen, Trudie. YOU and you alone gave me the confidence to step up my game."

"That's what you did for me as well," Perry said. "You are in every way my equal. You kept overshadowing me in the past, which forced me to step up my own game to keep up with you. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that I wouldn't be the O.W.C.A. agent I am today without that."

Trudie was rendered speechless. She had no idea that she had impacted these four people's lives so much. She had assumed that Perry hated her and that her apprentices had moved on without a second thought.

But she was wrong.

"So I think you really deserve that medal," Mavis said. "Twenty-five years, not just of missions and service, but of training young recruits and shaping them up to be great."

"We're proud of you," Bjørn added, smiling. "Hey, we should take a selfie."

"Wait, what?" Trudie blinked, uncertain.

"To celebrate the occasion," said Kallisto , grinning.

Trudie hesitated. She disliked having her photo taken, but maybe...

"Maybe just this once," she said reluctantly.

Bjørn immediately got out his phone and opened the camera app. Meanwhile, Mavis and Kallisto got down on either side of Trudie's chair. Perry hopped up onto the back of the chair, peering out from her shoulder. Trudie was uncomfortable with being in such close proximity of these people, but she reassured herself that she could do this for them.

Bjørn held the camera out so that they were all in the frame. He smiled. "Get ready!"

Trudie waited until the last second, before putting on a half-genuine smile. After the picture was taken, Bjørn had a look at it, and then he showed the others. "We look great!"

Trudie studied the photo. Her smile looked more genuine than she had thought...

"We're a family, Trudie." Kallisto put her arm over her mentor's shoulders. "Thank you for everything you've done."

Trudie smiled at her friends, her uncomfortableness slowly ebbing away.

Well, here's to the next twenty-five years.