They reached the academy in a more somber atmosphere that the siblings immediately caught on, also having seen the disheveled appearance of the two.

"What happened?" Allison immediately asked, her motherly side showing.

"We got ambushed," Five decided to answer as they sat in the common room, sitting next to [Name] who had her hands covering her face.

"I thought Michael was gonna die," she added softly, looking up at the rest in a helpless way that tugged at the siblings' heartstrings. Five retold the whole story, including the knowledge of the girl being born at the same day as them.

"Does this mean you're the same age as us? That doesn't make sense," Diego stated with an incredulous expression.

"Yeah, but you know? Time is relative." She simply explained with a shrug.

"Time is relative?" He parroted.

"It basically means, in Einstein's words, that the rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference," Luther helpfully explained but it seems that Diego still didn't understand.

"What it meant, was that I may have been born during the 1980s, but when we crossed dimensions, I'd assume mom got there when it was around my birth year, 200X. So therefore, that 20 years between 1989 to 200X didn't happen to me so I'm still 18," she added slowly, looking at Diego as a dawning realization came to him, finally nodding in understanding.

"If you were smarter you would've understood that already," Five grumbled, causing [Name] to pinch him in the thigh, raising her eyebrows.

"Wait, doesn't that mean you might have abilities like us, too? Because why would your mom hide you from the Commission?" Vanya raised a great question.

"I mean, it would have already shown when I was a kid if I did have one, no? Given that that's what happened with you lot. Unless being in a parallel dimension hinders my abilities, I think I'm just a normal baby. Maybe the agents are just not allowed to have relationships until their retirement," she added, looking at Five for confirmation.

"Yeah, we aren't really allowed to have any sort of relationship unless it's a partnership between you and your partner, but even then, I never wanted one." He answered with a shrug.

They continued their conversation, figuring out how to deal with both the Commission and the apocalypse on their heels, the girl zoning out as she gazed at the picture of her mother.

"Is that your mom?" A soft voice suddenly asked, [Name] looking up in surprise and seeing Vanya smiling gently at her.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she trailed off, looking at the picture again before gazing up at Vanya. "But I also don't know, you know? Maybe this is some parallel universe version of her that just got tangled into all of this accidentally. But then, there are just so many coincidences that just really lead straight to my mom. I just.. I don't know, you know? I can really only know all of this once I finally get to talk to my mother." She exhaled in frustration, fixing her hair.

"Then how would you talk to her?" Vanya asked in confusion.

The girl shrugged with a tight-lipped smile, "I dunno, I'm still trying to figure out how I even got here in the first place. But I'd like to think that thing Five did in the beginning probably had something to do with it, too."

Vanya hummed in thought, seemingly mulling it over as well, when her eyes widened and looked back at the girl again. "So when all of this is over, and Five figures out how to get you back, you'll be.. gone? Forever?" The last word was almost a breath due to how quiet she'd said that [Name] wouldn't have heard had she not been sitting next to Vanya in the first place. She only answered this with a sad smile and a shrug.

As much as she loved her family, she had also gotten closer to the siblings that it saddens her thinking about leaving them. But it's not really the time to dwell on it now, so she shook herself out of it, pushing the problem to the side to deal with it once all of this is done, and standing up. "I think I'm gonna sleep for now, I'm tired," she told Vanya who gave her an understanding smile, and left the room discreetly, going to hers.

And as soon as she laid down on bed, dreamland overtook her.

**

"Hey, wake up," she heard a voice say, gently shaking her by the shoulder.

[Name] groaned in protest, swatting away the hand as she covered her face with the pillow. "You've been asleep for three hours now," the boy complained, shaking her by the ankle when she kept swatting him away.

"Later," she grumbled, hiding her whole body with the blanket only for it to be tugged away completely from her and immediately being engulfed by the cold air around them causing her to wake up from her daze. She sat up, glaring at Five. "What?"

She was having a lovely sleep – could've gotten more if she was being honest – and this guy just decided this is the perfect time to ruin her nap and remove her from dreamland.

"We're going somewhere, get ready," with him staring at her in amusement, then turning around to close the door behind him. "And you better be done when I get back or else I'll be the one dragging you out there and dressing you." With a tone of mischief in his voice, clearly smirking.

She gazed at the door in disbelief, sleep-addled mind now dispersed, as she grumpily got out of bed and changed clothes, entering the adjacent bathroom to wash the leftover drowsiness away.

"You done?" A voice suddenly appeared behind her.

"Ah fucking–" she cursed when she suddenly saw his figure on the mirror, casually leaning on the doorway, and all of a sudden feeling like she's part of a horror franchise.

"Can you not do that?" She turned back, glaring and still mad at him for waking her up.

"Do what?" He asked, amusement lacing his tone. She couldn't understand why he seems like he's in a good mood while she's the absolute opposite, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Why did you wake me up?" She decided on instead, not taking his bait.

And to this, his whole posture tensed, all comfortableness gone as his hands fell to his sides, expression getting serious. "We're gonna try and find a way to talk to Hazel and Cha-cha." And held her hand, teleporting the both of them inside a van.

"When did you even have the time to nick this?" She said in distaste, looking around the back and seeing a huge bag where she thought Delores was probably in. He simply ignored her as he started the engine, the girl putting on the seatbelt in case.

"Do you know where they are right now?" He asked.

"I don't know! Things have already changed a lot! The shooting hours ago wasn't even supposed to.." but then trailed off as realization dawned on her. "Are you going to talk to the Handler?" Turning to face him completely.

"Maybe."

"But why? You already know how the apocalypse would end, who would cause it! You have no reason to talk to her." She said with a huff, remembering that she may think the Handler looks really badass and gorgeous, but she was still quite uncomfortable with the woman's sudden liking for the younger Five. She just couldn't help but feel protective of the boy.

"No, you do. But that's why I'd be the one to talk to her. I'll be distracting the Commission so the agents would get out of our hair and then you would try and stop the apocalypse."

"But.." she muttered, very against the idea of doing any sort of deal with the Commission, much less the Handler.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"No.." she glumly answered, slumping in her seat.

"Good, then we'll try and find them, and trade with them for the briefcase."

"But we just fought them earlier, and less successfully, too," she reminded him.

"And that's also why we need to have an arrangement, before things get out of hand and the Commission decides to send every one of their best agents," he spoke softly, as if to a child, causing her to scoff at him.

"Are we actually going to give them the briefcase?"

"Of course not!" He exclaimed, offended. "That briefcase is way too important, we can use it as backup if things get too bad."

"Okay.." she acquiesced, nodding as she tried to remember where the two agents could possibly be at this time.

She knew of Hazel's love for the donut lady, but she just wasn't sure if he'd be there at this time.

Then, a view of her hands opening the door to the donut place came into her mind, seeing Hazel's back facing them as he merrily chatted with the waitress.

She blinked at this, confused where she had gotten that but looking back at Five. "Hazel's at Griddy's."

"What? What would he be doing there?" He asked but started driving the car anyways as he continued gazing at the road.

"You'll see."

The ride there was silent, as she just leaned on the window, suddenly feeling as if she's on a music video when the rain started pouring. She was following the rain drop when Five suddenly spoke.

"So you're leaving after all this is over?" He asked, almost nonchalantly. He must've heard her conversation with Vanya, she thought vaguely.

"Yeah.. I still have to go home, anyways," she said with a tight smile, gazing at him as she tried to weigh her options. "I can't really stay here, even if I am technically from this universe since most of my life is on the other side." Just thinking about leaving her family there hurts, but also doesn't mean she's okay with leaving the siblings here, too.

"I.. like you guys. Really. You're all awesome and I have never felt so welcomed. Just that.. you know? My family's there, and I know you understand given that you sacrificed almost everything just to get back to yours."

That's the thing that sucks too, he thought. He knows exactly how she felt. When he heard her talking about it with Vanya, he couldn't help but feel a little crestfallen. Even if he would never say it out loud, he knows that she had wormed her way into their lives, that she basically belongs at the academy now even if they had only known her for a few days.

Granted, she can be irritating at times, but the thought of never actually seeing her again? On the literal other side of the universe? It didn't sit right with him, feeling a gut-wrenching pain and a twinge on his heart.

It suddenly felt like a lifetime ago when she first appeared with him – which he does still wonder how, to this day – with so much that had happened over almost a week. It felt odd just thinking she's gonna be gone once this whole apocalypse ends. The girl who's always trying to cheer everybody up, always worries and frets over them like some mother goose. He chuckled inwardly at the thought of her being an overprotective goose ready to attack anyone who dares hurt her children.

He then sighed again, giving her a sidelong glance, mumbling, "Yeah.." And didn't say anything more until they reached Griddy's.