She was reeling.

She had so many questions. Questions that nobody would ever be able to answer. Questions for… for a god, for fate, for the world. It was because he made a dumb impulsive decision that she was ever part of any of this. And it was because he made a dumb impulsive decision that he was dead. What the fuck was he thinking? How did he even fall behind in the first place?! She just didn't know, and she wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

But here she was. He was gone, she was still here. She would never get to ask him. Did the sleeping gas just slow him down that much? Why wasn't she looking behind her? Her Dad would have something to say about that, not covering your comrades. A failure that cost far more than she ever imagined as a stupid young person that was trying to be a good soldier. And when it actually mattered, when she actually cared about the duty she was serving, she failed.

The van was shot at this point and they were hiking on foot. Annie, Ridley and Amiah, even after so much fresh air, were still just a little laggy. Val was just used to pushing through impossible levels of exhaustion, for the sake of the mission. Rafa was the same, and he was trudging along with his gun still lazily pointed at this man, despite how his eyes were drooping a little bit.

Val sighed and took a few steps forward to take it out of his hand – stupid idiot wasn't even holding it that tight.

"Hey!" Rafa said, jumping and putting up his fists.

"Just me," Val told him, rolling her eyes. "Your finger's gonna slip and then we're really gonna be fucked." She pulled him by the waist band to stop him, putting on his safety and put the gun back in his holster. "There ya go."

"You just can't trust anyone," Rafa said, blinking slowly and stubbornly pressing on. "We don't even know this guy's name."

"I mean, Luke wasn't supposed to trust me," Val pointed out. "And I mean, the guy just shot other Peacekeepers, he don't have much of a choice anymore."

"Haneul," he spoke, looking at the two of them for a moment. "And I can hear you talking about my certain death, you know." He turned to make sure everyone was still trudging on. He let out a heavy sigh. "So do you know where he is? Is he dead?"

"Don't ask that," Rafa said defensively, thinking he was talking about Luke, and Val put up a hand, knowing what he meant.

"Kodi is alive. He helped with a prison break in District Two," she said and Rafa gave a small "Ooooh."

"Oh." The man seemed… Very surprised. "Huh."

"Probably flirting with my friend who was kept there," Val continued, rolling her eyes a little bit but she knew Shani. Shani… Her heart dropped a little bit thinking about what she had to witness him go through there. Things that she didn't stop. She helped him when it mattered, but… God.

"What? Shani? No," said Rafa.

"Yes," said Val, and he knew it was true too. She tried to bring forth a laugh, but it was like her smiles were all stolen away the moment she saw him holding his stomach.

"Wow. Yeah obviously I didn't know a lot of this was going on with him."

Ridley spoke for the first time since they'd left the van. "Well of course you didn't. So what even gives? Kodi told us he was an orphan."

"So I suppose he was," Han said, kicking a pebble ahead of him. "I'm not from here. I'm actually from Two. Had those big volunteering dreams, found I was way better at using a gun than a sword, and enrolled in the corps before the final fight. Obviously the only reason that District Nine got a Victor that year," he quipped with a chuckle.

"Eighty-nine," said Rafa right away because obviously it wasn't last year or the one before. "Vale. Ugh, that volunteer that year was such an asshole. Got half the pack killed eating poisonous leaves."

"Ha!" laughed Han, before looking at Rafa. "You too, eh?"

"Let's not go there," Rafa said, putting up a hand to stop him from trying to get all buddy-buddy.

"It was a classic case of Peacekeeper meets country girl."

"Now that's a load of hot shit," Annie said right away. "Where's that gun again?" She was a child.

"Cool it, Mama, aight?" Rafa asked, looking at Han and obviously interested in his story but trying to act like he wasn't.

"My coworkers treated the women of the District like shit," he said honestly, and that made Annie stop and start frowning. "I know it, I saw it."

"Yeah, they sure did," Annie said, biting her lip and looking like she wanted to ask something else.

"So then what? You were dumb and didn't rubber up?" Rafa asked.

Han chuckled a little bit. "Pretty much," he said with a shrug. "Too much science fiction and too impatient horny young virgins and boom." He shook his head a little bit.

"Virgins?!" asked Ridley, shaking his head. "No way." This man was practically ageless! If he didn't look so much like Kodiak he wouldn't have believed him for a second, he would have thought him way too young to be a father to a grown teenager.

"I was and am an awkward man," Han said with a chuckle. "And she was a bit of a nut. But somehow we managed to figure things out – get a place, find the supplies, and he popped out this huge baby with more fat rolls than there were Hunger Games."

Amiah started giggling at that and Ridley laughed out loud. Their laughter stung Val deep within and she looked down at her feet.

Han's fond smile faded into a sigh. "But you know how it is, being in the Corps. They tell you to go somewhere and you go there. No real choice in the matter. I was young and had no standing, no title, and our story was cut short. She had started to fall ill at the time I got the news that I was being relocated. If I had protested and left the Corps, I would have been sent back to Two. I had to have faith she would get better and go where I was told, hoping that I would make it back there someday. She was so confident that her family would take care of her, and Little Bear. By the time I got back I realized too quickly that they hadn't." His voice took on a certain dark undertone and he stopped for just a moment.

Rafa frowned at that and shook his head. "Shit man, that sucks."

"Just a little." Han let out a heavy sigh. "I was running around like a chicken with the head cut off and then suddenly I found him – volunteering in front of the whole nation. Jesus. Then… Well, you know what happened after."

"Yep," said Val. "And now you're a war criminal."

"Meh, I hated them all anyways," Han said with a small twinkle in his eye. "I would have done it for much lower stakes than we had."

"A corn chip?" asked Ridley, and Han chuckled a little bit.

"Maybe not a corn chip. I don't like corn chips so well. Perhaps a cheddar cracker though."

"Well I hope you like plain rice and canned vegetables," Rafa said, pulling up a holo and putting it up to take their coordinates. "They're sending an emergency craft for us now."

"A craft?" asked Han. "Okay I guess. To where?"

"Oh, Amiah wants to answer," Ridley said, pointing to her with one finger on one hand and three on the other.

"…Four?"

"Thirteen!" said Ridley.

"Thirteen!?"

"It's a long story, but Kodiak's there too so you'd better figure out what you're gonna say to him," Rafa said a little gruffly.

They heard motors in the sky approaching, but it was a familiar machine making the sounds.

"They're searching for us," Val said, knowing that they were trying to find them based on body temperature.

"The lake," said Han, gesturing to the body of water close to them. "Hope you can hold your breath."

"I'm great at that," said Ridley as they were slowly making their way through to the body of water.

"Try not to disturb it too much. And I hope you aren't afraid of fish swimming past you."

"Ew," said Rafa at the same time Val said, "Shut up," just knowing he was going to be the one to complain about it. But the drones were fast approaching and all of them crawled quietly into the water, curled up in balls, holding their breath.

Being alone once more, in the dark, cold, and hearing the water moving through her ears, made Val feel that cold, sinking feeling once more. It felt like she was drowning before being in the water like this. Now… She felt physically like she did emotionally. She tried to focus on listening for the small buzzing of the drones, but all she could feel was that cold, wet, crushing feeling of being alone.

The first to break the surface was Amiah, barely able to hold on any longer for air – and thankfully the drones were gone by then. She gestured everyone back up, breaking the surface and gasping for air in that long minute or so of being submerged. But it was just long enough to escape detection – for that anyway.

"Fucking hell, they're so…" Rafa shuddered as Annie was shivering from the cold. "Eugh."

"Oh, come on," Han said, slapping his shoulder with a laugh as they heard the slight sound of an approaching motor and Rafa nodded to them.

"This is it," he said, and it was like an angel from heaven coming down to help them.

"Quickly," Val said, moving like a robot, she was a fucking husk, but her body was in survival mode as the ramp slid down to them and they were all helping each other in. This time, Val stood in the doorway and counted heads, waiting until she was sure that was everyone to go in and the greenlight was given for take-off.

"Ryder!" Ridley perked up right away at seeing them there, going over to hug them, and Amiah close behind looking at Mari as well.

But… They did not look happy to see anyone. They looked… Fucking hollow. Val understood the feeling. She could see how Mari hugged both of the tributes without so much as a smile. She looked… In pain, and traumatized, and… Yeah. Val could relate. And Ryder… They were at least able to give their friends a smile and a hug, but they were sitting. Strapped into a seat and the seat bound to the floor of the hovercraft.

"What is that, it looks bougie," Ridley said, but when he saw the look deep in their eyes, his face fell.

Val figured it out a second before Mari spoke and her heart fell deep into her stomach.

"Wheelchair," she said softly, and Val looked around at the looks of horror that were shared around the room.

"I'm so sorry," Ridley said, shaking his head a little bit and suddenly counting his blessings that they got as lucky as they did.

"They bombed the University," Ryder said quietly, still not really looking at any of them in the eye. "We saw things that…"

"You don't have to talk about it," Annie said quickly as they were taking off again, giving the rest of their group a look.

"Damn, I'm glad you're okay," Rafa said, and he left it at that.

"Yeah," said Ryder, before doing a double take, the only real emotion they had shown since the group boarded. "Rafael?!"

"Hi," said Rafa. "My brother is with your stupid Uncle and if anything happens to him I'm going to hunt him down."

"Uncle Joe?" asked Ryder, shaking their head in confusion. "What?"

"It's all a very long story," Val said, and when they looked at her, she cleared her throat. "… Val. It's Val now." Saying her full name out loud… It brought a pain now that seared through her unlike any before. And yet… She felt like she owed it to him to say it. He wasn't going to be there to say it for her anymore. So she had to somehow find it in her to be brave. "…" she cleared her throat a little bit. "Valerica."

"Oh," said Ryder, brows going straight up in surprise. "Got it."

Val slumped down as she was overtaken with tears once more. She wasn't ready to say it, and that just proved it. She wasn't ready and the only reason she thought she might someday was because of him.

"Wait," said Mari, looking at the group. "Wasn't… Wasn't Luke-"

"He's dead," Val said right away, curtly, as her eyes filled up with tears. "He died." Not even saying it out loud could allow her to fully process it, let alone accept it. His corpse, just lying there in a Peacekeeper van that was crashed somewhere in the woods.

That sent a solemn silence through the hovercraft. Mari barely even reacted to it. She just felt numb.

Ridley was the first to speak. "I said I would protect him," he said quietly, casting his eyes to the ground. At least he protected Amiah…

"Don't blame yourself," Val said right away. It was her fault.

"It was no one's fault," Rafa interjected right away, looking at all of them. "We did what we could."

"I just wish I had done so much differently," Val said, staring at the ground as more tears started to bubble in her eyes. "He changed my life… I-In just a blink…."

Mari could see the look in her eyes and despite a wrapped wound on her leg, hobbled over to give Val a hug. It was a tentative hug but when Val returned it, it became much more steadfast.

There was one that was smiling.

There was one who had a tear in her eye, but was still smiling.

Val looked up just in time to catch the sign. It was one of few signs that she knew. On a night of just… Complete honesty with Shani that she wished now that she could take back. A sign she wished she didn't understand. A sign she was baffled to see now.

Beautiful.

"Beautiful?" Val asked, letting go of Mari. "You think this is beautiful?" It wasn't. It was miserable. It was painful. Beautiful was the last word she would use to describe anything that happened.

Amiah nodded, putting her hands up to sign and Ryder followed.

"We're all coming together. You said your name. What's not beautiful about that?"

"What's not beautiful about that is that… Luke's fucking DEAD!" Val said, letting go of Mari quickly and wiping her eyes again. "That's not beautiful to me!"

"I don't think she means harm," Ridley said quickly, but even he was frowning.

Amiah shook her head a few times and signed the same thing a few times.

"Alive," said Ryder, but it wasn't we're alive. It was her own mantra, for herself. I'm alive.

Val just stared for a moment, just absolutely shocked at this. "I don't even care that I'm alive, because he isn't!" she said, admitting a hard truth and putting her face in her hands.

Life is beautiful!

"Life is beautiful?!" Val asked, putting it together from the few signs she'd seen. "Life isn't beautiful! Life is fucking awful! Life is a fucking mess! Terrible people have stolen us all away from our lives. Him away from his boyfriend!" she pointed at Ridley. "Him from his son!" at Han. "Their ability to walk, run, do anything!" at Ryder. "Robbed him of the chance to be who he really even is, much less say it out loud!" at Rafa. "Her from her fucking innocence," at Mari. "And her from…" she could see it deep in Annie's eyes. "Everything!" She was crying so hard she thought she might just keel over and she wished she could. "And you! Life has taken your voice, life put you in a death match, stole you from your family! Your friends!"

I'm alive. I'm alive.

"Life is fucking shit!" Val said, all of the pain that she was holding back for Luke's sake in his final moments collecting itself in her throat and bursting out in sobs. Because she wanted him to feel okay in his final moments, but the truth was this wasn't okay at all. None of this was okay! "Our homes are destroyed. Some forever. We've all lost something here. Something fundamental to ourselves. What is beautiful about that?!"

"We're together," Ryder translated when Amiah had… Not even a look of anger. Just one of disappointment. "She wonders why you don't see it." And the moment Amiah stepped toward her to start signing her thoughts about it, that stupid look of disappointment on her face, Val snapped. And she would have hit her if Rafa didn't see and grab her arms, pulling them in and holding her back.

"Let me go! You think my Luke's death is beautiful?! I'll show you fucking BEAUTFUL!" she yelled, but when Raf squeezed her she just fell into his arms, curling into herself and letting out loud sobs into his chest. Ridley was just looking at her for a moment, absolutely shocked about this side of her and barely even knowing what to say. She barely looked apologetic, just confused, and turned to Ryder.

People that do bad things just don't see how amazing the world is.

Ryder wasn't sure they agreed, but they still were the diffuser of conflict so they just forced a smile forward. She seemed to accept it, even if it was clear that their eyes were dead. She went over to hug Ryder again, just disappointed that people hated this life so much. She couldn't even fathom that. Tragedy happened, and it brought them all together. The war brought her a brand new found family that she cared for so much, in every way. It allowed her such beautiful adventures, it let her experience new ways of life and get to meet such amazing people… She didn't let anything drag her down because there were just so many good things about the world around her! The breezes, the stars, each of the little fish that swam around them in the lake. She was the sun! And… Ridley was supposed to be the sun too, but… He wasn't acting like it. She just didn't get it – why did he not see? What could she do to show them, and make them feel better? She just didn't know.

Rafa just held onto Val for dear life, not even sure what he could do for her besides that. Han came over to gently put a hand on her back.

"I know," he said softly, because he did know and was still a little worried about what he was going to do face-to-face with Kodi.

There was a long silence between everyone as they were approaching. And for some reason, that was when she finally had the courage to ask.

"Where's Freddy Smith?" Annie swallowed a little bit as that made Mari look up and blink in surprise.

"Thirteen, where we're going," she said, taking a deep breath and not even sure what she was going to do when she saw her friends again. Did they understand what she'd seen? Had they experienced what she experienced? Would their friendship ever be the same again? She didn't know.

But she was just waiting to get a big bear hug from Freddy, and have her face smushed into Lizzie's titties. Have some sense of normalcy again. Try to feel safe.

"I need to see him," Annie said, looking at her hands for a moment and running her fingers over the rough parts. She could feel eyes on her, she could hear their questions, and she barely had an answer for them. She didn't have an answer for any of them, she just knew that this was her blood and it was something she couldn't run away from forever.

She lost so many brave mothers due to the raid. People that were much more tender than her. People way more deserving of the title, because they were there, and she gave up from the very beginning. Women that loved their kids, and nurtured them, that did everything right, everything they were supposed to, and they were gone and she was here. She had so many questions, questions for God, questions for fate, questions for the world. And yet they would never be answered.

Why?

She couldn't run away forever.

"I'm his… Mom."

~.~.

"How did we end up here?"

Two different twins.

Two different lives.

The roads had forged them apart, and now, after all this, here they were.

The girl's answer to the question was simple. "I don't know."

The good ending.

Viola Wallace could barely look her twin in the eye.

Piccolo Wallace continued. "We used to be best friends. Nothing could ever stop us. Then…" He lowered his voice. "Things changed."

"They changed a lot," Viola confessed softly. "In such a short period of time."

"We went from best friends to… Coworkers at best. I just don't understand." Well… There was a part of him that did understand. At least that knew why it happened.

Viola looked at the ground. "I liked the praise from Mom and Dad," she said finally. "For once, finally it was all mine."

Piccolo was nodding until all of a sudden he stopped. "For once?!"

Viola finally looked at his face. "For once. That's how it felt anyways."

"I don't understand." He shook his head in disbelief.

"You were always a better musician than me," Viola said quietly. "They always thought that and so did I. You were always the go-getter that had all the big ideas and I was always the follower. You were the one that went for this job and I felt like I was just the follower – the announcer wasn't even that important." She sighed and shook her head.

"What?" Piccolo asked, still blinking in disbelief.

"I never talked to you about it because I felt like you knew. I-I mean, they only accept one piccolo player into an ensemble and it was always you! I was first chair sometimes but never truly up to snuff. Nobody notices the trombones in the back, nobody ever writes them solos. You were just… Front and center, shining, looking so beautiful…"

"No," Piccolo said, shaking his head. "I never felt that way about us."

"I did," Viola said softly. "So when all of a sudden I was the star… I was the one that was getting affirmed, love-bombed, and coddled… It just felt so good," she said as her eyes filled with tears. "It felt like for once, I won something. I got to be the important one. They actually agreed for my gender affirming care, they called me by my name…" Tears dripped out of her eyes and gently fell onto her lap. "It felt like I finally reached a goal that I had been striving for so long." She used the back of her hand to wipe her nose with a small sob. "I was made to feel like I wouldn't possibly be able to be myself without them."

Piccolo wanted to be angry at her. After all, she had done nothing to defend him when their parents obsessively misgendered him over six months. She didn't come to his aid when he was hurting so much because they deemed him a failure. She wasn't there. When he finally left and moved out because he just couldn't take it anymore, she didn't come after him. She barely even acknowledged him.

But he just couldn't. She was his twin.

"I wasn't there for you any time it was the opposite way," he confessed, and it hurt him deep down inside. "I always felt the opposite. I felt like I could never measure up to you. You're tall, you're beautiful, you always seemed to have such a self-assured attitude even when you were being misgendered and put through the wringer. So I guess I'm just as guilty of that as you."

"I'm so sorry," Viola said quietly, wiping her face. "I knew you needed me and yet I still refused."

"I could say the same for a moment in the past," Piccolo said. It just always felt so good to be the one that was successful, loved, praised, coddled. So good it was easy to forget that he even had a twin at all.

"So what were you crying about?" Viola finally asked. "I can't believe I never even thought to ask…"

Piccolo looked away and sighed. "I grew too attached to one of the tributes. It ruined me. It… Made me realize what the rest of the world was like. It was a slap to the face."

Viola shook her head a little bit. "Oh," she said, in shock about that because she had no idea.

"Ollie from Eleven," Piccolo said with a small sigh. "He never really looked my way even with the serum. Probably was for the better. But looking back he was the key to me. He was the realization that while we live this way, many others are struggling. Broke my damn heart."

"Wow," Viola said quietly, the guilt of having no idea any of this was happening crushing her. "I'm so sorry."

"I had plenty of support. And even just being outside of our sphere made me realize quickly the games our parents played. Trying to punish us by demeaning who we are. Setting us against each other. They never wanted us to be best friends. Barely even twins. Just… Competition."

"No. We are twins. We…" Viola bit her lip, because that was all she could say.

"We are twins," Piccolo said with a small smile at her. "I'm sorry for my part in what happened between us as well. I could have tried. I was just too afraid you would side with them. Because I know I would have, and probably did, when it was me that was the star. But it's not right. They never had any love for us. But I have love for you." Piccolo smiled through his tears at her. "I love you."

Viola somehow managed a smile back at him. "I love you too," she said, going over to give him a hug, and it was returned.

Piccolo hugged her back. "Oh, you have real boobs now!" he said with a laugh as he squeezed tightly, not wanting to let go quite yet.

"I know right?" Viola said, providing a hearty chuckle in response and for a moment, things felt normal.

Piccolo grinned, and closed his eyes, still a little bit teary. "Thank you for brining my instrument with you," he said quietly. "I can't believe you thought of that."

"I wanted to bring Fritz but he was too big," Viola said, thinking about her trombone. "That though? Perfect size."

"Well it brought some memories I will never forget now. Thank you for thinking of me and for being my sister." Oh, fuck, he was so glad she was here now.

Viola grinned a little bit back at her, feeling like a ten pound weight was lifted from her chest. "I forgive you for anything and everything. I know that it was all due to them."

"I forgive you too, Viola," Piccolo said, pulling back a little bit to look at her – his sister, and smile. "We don't have them anymore to pit us against each other."

Viola just laughed a little bit, glad to hear that and know that she was never going to be called the wrong name again. Never going to be demeaned for not being good enough in their eyes. Never going to have to fight to be noticed, try to upstage someone else that she loved so much and felt inadequate to at all times. "Sounds like the Wallace twins are gonna be back and better than ever then!" she said with a huge grin at Piccolo, who just grinned back at her.

"Sounds like it," he said, before taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. His twin. He missed her so much. He loved her even though she abandoned him, and he was glad to know she loved him too. It felt like… Things were going to be okay.

"I'm so glad to have you back."

~.~.

"How did we end up here?"

Two different twins.

Two different lives.

The roads had forged them apart, and now, after all this, here they were.

The girl's answer to the question was simple. "I don't know."

The bad ending.

Emmett Mitchell sat in the room, at least six feet apart from his twin sister. "So many things," he said quietly.

Anna Magdalena Mitchell looked at her brother and her heart felt so heavy. She felt a certain fear deep within her looking into his face, just wondering if he was going to change again. It happened so quickly. "Indeed," she said quietly. Things had been getting better since their first interaction. But would never be the same again.

"I still scare you," he said, able to tell it was true. "I used to be it for you. I used to be your best friend."

"You…" Maggie said, just not even sure what to say to him. Was he still her best friend? Was he still… It for her?

"I scare myself too." He tapped his fingers on the wall a few times. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"They did that to you, Em," Maggie said, her voice taking on a new fiery edge to it because she knew it was true. "It's not your fault honey." Her eyes filled with shallow tears as she looked into his face, trying to find any semblance of who he still was in there.

"I don't understand." He shook his head in disbelief.

"They wanted to use you," Maggie told him, and when he tensed up, she quickly stopped, drawing back away from him.

Em eventually let out a small exclamation before he released the tension in his body, taking a few slow breaths. "I know," he said after a long moment. "Why?"

"Because you were innocent," Maggie said, staring at him in pure… Disbelief. "You had connections to the ones they wanted to hurt."

"FUCK!" Em said loudly, slamming his fists on the wall and making Maggie gasp a little bit, putting herself closer to the door. And when he saw her do that, he immediately let up his tension, his face softening. "No." He scared her. "Maggie, I-I'm so sorry Maggie," he said quietly, putting his eyes to the ground, unable to handle seeing her face like that anymore.

Maggie wanted to be angry at him. After all, he couldn't control these outbursts. Even being here right now was like walking on eggshells with him. She had no idea what to say that would make him just… Snap and completely lose it. He was constantly on-edge, and he put her on edge. Just like so many other men have done to her before.

But she just couldn't. He was her twin.

"It's okay," Maggie said softly.

"It's not okay," Em said, his lip quivering as his eyes filled with tears. "I can't live like this anymore Maggie, I just can't. You're the one I always wanted to do good for. The one I was constantly defending and trying to save. A-And you…" He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away from her, searching so hard for those memories that were real and that lived so deeply in his subconscious. They existed somewhere. "You always took care of me when I was dumb and needed you. I… I know that's real. I don't know what else is real in honesty but I know that. Our childhood was shit but at least we had each other."

Maggie gave him a smile as her eyes filled with tears. "Yeah," she said, thinking about all the times that men would leer, cat-call, or make comments and her brother would insist on trying to fight them and fail miserably. All the times that their parents tried to be sexist toward her that he would defend her – or if he was afraid to, he would just sneak it with her anyway – anything she wanted, he always tried to get for her. He was the reason she had any happiness at all growing up. "That's real," she said.

"Yeah…" Em said, closing his eyes and thinking about their parents. There was something about the memory that was different than the others and somehow he could just feel that it was real. "They never had any love for us. But I have love for you." Em smiled through his tears at Maggie. "I love you."

Maggie somehow managed a smile back at him. "I love you too," she said. She closed her eyes for a moment, requiring a little bravery for the action, before she got up and ran over to give him a hug, which was quickly returned. And something about being in his arms made it feel like it was really him.

But the feeling only lasted for a fleeting moment.

"Thank you for that Maggie," Em said when she let go. He could feel how her heart was pounding. "Thank you for being brave."

Maggie nodded a little bit, not even going to argue it because he was her brother and deserved the truth.

"Hey, why aren't you standing up tall? You know ladies have good posture," Em said, and his impersonation of their mother made Maggie start cracking up through her tears, a true laugh, a loud laugh, and Em grinned at making her laugh.

For a moment, things felt normal.

"Fuck good posture," Maggie said, and Em laughed with her.

"It's my body and I'll slouch if I want to," he said, going back to sitting but in just a moment, his lazy posture was changed back to a timid, proper posture.

"I needed that laugh," Maggie said honestly before her face grew sad again looking at him.

"Guess even at the end of the road I want to make you smile."

Maggie covered her face again, holding back a sob, and Em's face grew sad.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Maggie said through her tears, looking at him. "Are you sure?" she asked softly, because she didn't know. "He wanted you to forgive yourself."

Em balled his fists again and Maggie just tried not to flinch. She didn't want to upset him further and knew that violent reaction wasn't him. He was never violent to her. "I know he did and I still don't know what's real about him but it's all a fight I don't want to fight. Why struggle through remembering him if I know what I did to him, right?" He balled his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms, just trying to keep himself under control to not scare her anymore, he hated upsetting her. "Fuck it all Maggie, I'm not me anymore and I fucking know that! I fucking hate how you feel about me now and I don't even know how to fix it!"

She didn't want him to think she didn't still love him. They were trying to make this painless. "I forgive you for anything and everything. I know that it was all due to them."

"Thank you Maggie," Em said, because he could tell that she truly meant it. He didn't know himself but he knew her.

Maggie nodded, because really, some peace was all that she could gift to him now. "I know who you were," she said, going over. She put out her arm to him – opposite arm from where Janine's stick and poke lived. Em took the marker from her. "If it's any consolation, you were the best friend a girl could ask for. You changed my life. You were always there for me. You were a big teddy bear that found a way to get himself in trouble but only ever for a good reason. You were excitable and loved your friends. You were…" Her voice caught a little bit. "You were the best boyfriend," she said, her voice breaking. "Always there. You would have been so upset that Anakyn got married first, you always wanted to get married young because you knew…" She put her face down to wipe a tear from her eye. "You won't be remembered for this. You'll be remembered for all the smiles you brought to our faces and all the love you had to give to us." She sobbed quietly and nodded. "That's how you'll be remembered. Okay?" she asked, forcing herself to smile at him through her tears.

Em found it in him to grin a little bit back at her, feeling like a ten pound weight was lifted from his chest. "Don't forget to add dashingly handsome to that list, please."

Maggie wanted to laugh but it felt like her smiles had been stolen from her. "I won't," she said, taking a few shaking breaths.

"Alright, get outta here," he said, patting her arm a few times around where he'd written her an I love you on her wrist, wiping tears out of his eyes. "Let's end things on good terms."

Magie nodded, leaning over and not even feeling afraid anymore to give him the last hug, pressing her face into the familiar neck of someone she had held like this so many times before. But it wasn't the same him. This Em quivered and shook and barely hugged her at all, still afraid of her being scared of who he was now. It was a humane and brave decision. It was a fight that was just too long, too hard, too unpredictable.

It was the end.

"You are so loved," Maggie said through her tears.

"You are too," Em said, knowing that she was going to be watched over. "See you on the other side." His twin. He would miss her so much. He loved her even though their relationship had been damaged almost irreparably by whatever happened to him, and despite it all… He was glad to know she loved him too. It felt like… Things were going to be okay.

Maggie turned to walk out for the last time, walking past Mako who was holding the syringe in his hands that would bring things to a peaceful end, reunite the two lovers. She made eye contact with those blue eyes one more time, that had once been her refuge. He put his hand up in a wave.

"Thank you Em."

The door slid closed behind her and Maggie's eyes widened when she was picked up off the ground a little bit, but she fell into Indy's arms and grabbed his shirt, sobbing quietly into his neck.

"I'm so sorry, amiga," he said, his voice quivering a little bit just seeing her like this. Maggie couldn't even answer him.

When he let go, she realized he wasn't alone. Chica had tissues which she used to gently pat Maggie's cheeks and she nudged Vos to give her the water they were holding onto for her.

"Come on, we smuggled some hot chocolate," Monty said, but smuggling was a strong word when Stellan just wordlessly gave it to him knowing what was going to befall her. And he was just thankful that she had people looking out for her now, after so long of her searching for the right ones.

Maggie didn't know how to thank them and just nodded.

"And then Indy's going to be a sadistic bastard, I swear he enjoys stick and pokes way too much," Roxy said which gave the group a small laugh.

"I'm happy and honored to do it for mi hermana," Indy said, wiping his cheeks as he put an arm around her and together the small family walked back to their compartment that she was still invited to move into – and would take them up on.

As they went in and Monty got started brewing right away, Maggie looked around the room and she thought about Janine, up and about with her after her first sleepover as part of the group. The fam.

"This one will never letcha down."

She didn't realize til now just how true that was.

~.~.

A/N: Fuckin bye, that's it, I'm fuckin done with this shit. I need a whole fuckin glass of water after that, my eyes are crusty, my nose hurts, aye yay yay.

Closing the book on a lot of these characters has me feeling so emotional and I did Not have to do that to myself but I did. Just fuckin Awful. Nasty.

Back to back ugly-cry updates for me because I've been exposed to covid and therefore am quarantining responsibly and not doing much.

Counter goes down to Three.

Next chapter: The hovercraft with the group from 5 and 10 reaches its destination and yes a whole chapter is dedicated to all the reunions I have to write from it. And also… A commitment to just a little more time on this godforsaken website in the form of a reveal of what's to come.