𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 reached the door of Vanya's apartment in a matter of seconds.

It wasn't too different from all the other doors in the hall: a plain white with a small, welcoming rug at the step. They rang the bell a few times but the wooden door remained closed as they stood in front of it and waited.

"Maybe we should just go outside and climb through one of her windows," Five suggested as he leaned back to see if there were any windows on the walls of the hallway.

"We're on the second floor," Valerie pointed out as she shook her head.

A scoff escaped his lips. "Well, do you got any better ideas?"

"Actually" —she gave him a miffed smile— "I do."

She grabbed onto the door handle and vibrated her hand as fast as she could. Within a few seconds, the door handle fell off, clattering to the ground.

She grinned as she pushed the door open and gestured inside. "Boom."

"Why do your powers have to be so goddamn useful all the time?" he muttered with annoyance as they walked into the room. "Just let us climb up some walls once in a while."

"Oh, shut up, Five. There's no way I'd let you climb anything with that arm," she tsked, earning a groan in reply. "Go sit down on the couch, I'm going to find some stuff to treat it."

She then headed down the hallway, glancing through the open doors until she found the bathroom to her left.

Her eyes quickly roamed over the dim room before she opened the cabinet and searched for the things she needed. She quickly grabbed them all and shut the cabinet with her elbow.

She went back into the living room to see that Five had heeded her order, and she sat down beside him on the couch.

After unscrewing the cap of the rubbing alcohol, she poured some of the liquid inside onto a cotton ball, making sure not to spill any of it onto the carpet.

Five winced slightly as she wiped the cotton over his wound, and she murmured a soft apology as she gave a final swipe.

She then grabbed the gauze and quickly cut a long strip before binding it around his arm, far too focused on the wrapping to notice how Five's eyes devotedly gazed at her face.

"I still don't understand," he murmured after a few moments. "Why don't you like killing people?"

Valerie glanced up at him, an amused smile tugging at her lips. "I want you to think about that sentence again, very slowly."

"You know what I mean."

"Well, unlike you guys, I grew up learning that murder was bad," she sighed, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration as she continued wrapping. "And then I came to the Academy a decade later, and all of a sudden I was expected to murder. We were just raised differently."

Five only gave a small hum in response.

As she tied the ends of the white fabric, they heard footsteps approaching.

They turned to the sort-of broken door to see Vanya walk in tentatively, her eyes wide as she glanced up from the door handle.

Vanya sighed in relief when she saw who the intruders were and muttered, "Jesus, guys, why did you break into my apartment?"

"Five made me do it," Valerie said immediately, pointing to him.

"Wha—hey!" Five exclaimed as he shot her a glare.

Vanya took her jacket off before folding it over her arm and gently placing it on the back of the couch. She walked around, then taking a seat on the couch next to Valerie. She hesitated for a moment, leaning back slightly as she analyzed the boy.

Vanya narrowed her eyes at his arm, where a little blood had soaked through the gauze. "Is that blood?"

"It's nothing," Five quickly reassured her as he shook his sleeve down so that it covered any sign of injury. "Don't worry about it."

Vanya's eyes lingered on the area of his arm, but let go of the subject as she folded her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you guys here?"

Five sighed, giving a sideways glance to Valerie before looking back at Vanya. "I've decided you're the only one I can trust."

"What?" Valerie questioned in disbelief, her forehead creased and her mouth agape. Vanya was the only one?

"Why me?" Vanya questioned, her eyebrows knitting together tightly as she glanced between Valerie and Five.

Five kept his eyes off of Valerie. "Because you're ordinary. Because you'll listen."

Vanya didn't seem much more convinced by this. "Okay. . . ."

Valerie swallowed thickly. Five didn't trust her? After everything that she's done for him?

All she wanted to do at that moment was burst out in tears and yell at the boy in front of her. But rather than humiliate herself, she pressed her lips together and stood. 

"I'll be in Vanya's room, then."

She gave Vanya a half-attempted smile as she passed, and she made sure not to even glance towards Five—a peek at his face right now would do nothing but break her down. 

Vanya's room was at the end of the hall, and she closed the door as soon as she stepped inside; whether she liked it or not, she had to respect their privacy.

Valerie sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She and Five had always trusted each other with everything. And now, all of a sudden, he didn't trust her?

Sure, quite some time had passed. And yes, perhaps this disqualified them from the terms and conditions that 'best friends' had. But still, how was she any different from Vanya? He had been apart from both of them for the same period of time—and not to mention, Valerie had risked her life for him. 

Ten minutes later, and her cheeks were stained with the few tears that had managed to escape. She rubbed it away when the door creaked open, and toughed a smile when Vanya stepped in. 

"Hey," Vanya said softly, reaching out and grazing her thumb against Valerie's cheek. "I'm sorry that he didn't—"

"It's not your fault," Valerie reassured her with a small smile as she got to her feet. "I'm not mad at you, don't worry."

Vanya patted her shoulder as she murmured, "I'll—I'll see you in the morning. You can crash on one of my chairs. Or the ground. Or the couch, if you can convince Five to give you it."

"Thanks, Vanny," Valerie whispered before pulling her sister in for a hug. She embraced her tightly, digging her face into the crook of her neck. If there was anyone who appreciated her, it was Vanya. 

After bidding the woman goodnight, Valerie entered the living room, now a little nervous. Five was sitting in the same position on the couch as before.

At the sound of footsteps, he looked over at her. His eyes locked on hers for a brief moment before they slowly returned to the floor. 

"Hey, Val," he greeted, his body now unmoving. "How's it going?"

"How's it going?" she repeated incredulously, her eyebrows raised rather high. "How's it going?"

"You seem upset," he remarked nonchalantly, still keeping his gaze on the ground in front of him as she approached.

"Oh, do I? I wonder why . . ." Valerie pretended to ponder for a moment as she walked up in front of him and tapped her fingers against her chin before snapping them in mock realization. "Oh, right. Because my best friend doesn't trust me! You know, the best friend that I tried to save and then ended up in a stupid time trap for twelve or like, forever years!"

"Hey, I had to go through all that too!" he exclaimed sharply as he looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Except mine was for twenty-one years!"

"Well, you still had it better than I did," she scoffed as she folded her arms and sat down on the edge of the coffee table.

"Did I? I was alone, Val," he told her bitterly as he leaned forward, his striking green eyes staring directly into her brown ones. "I had to live off of fucking cockroaches and expired Twinkies—which do not have an infinite shelf life, by the way. I—I had to walk miles and miles, and for what? Nothing."

She scoffed once more as she leaned toward him. "You think that's worse than my experience?"

"Damn right I do."

"Five, I don't think you understand." Valerie shook her head, swallowing before murmuring, "This place—it was a void of time, and the time was all over the place. It felt as though centuries had passed, and at the same time, it felt like no time at all had passed. I was going insane. I didn't think I was able to come back. And I knew that I couldn't die in there—not from starvation or dehydration or physical injury, because the stupid place gives you biological immunity so you suffer." She paused for a moment and tried to keep her voice steady as she continued, "I knew that getting stuck there was a risk, but I still went after you. Because I care about you. And now you don't trust me?"

"I'm . . ." Five sighed, rubbing his eyes before his gaze met hers once more. "Val, I'm sorry you had to go through all that, honestly, I am. But still, it's been twenty-one years for me. And being away from someone for twenty-one years can really distance you from them."

"You were away from Vanya for twenty-one years too," Valerie pointed out.

"It's . . ." His eyes shifted to the ground once more as he shook his head. "It's different."

"Oh, yeah, okay." Valerie stood up, a small scoff escaping her lips. "Well, those twenty-one years obviously changed you into a completely different person, because you are not the Five I used to love."

She winced internally as she said the last word, and could only hope that he interpreted it as platonic love.

"Val . . ."

"Tell Vanya I went back to the Academy, I don't want her to be worried about me," she told him as she began to walk towards the door.

"Wait."

Valerie paused at his call, her hand hovering in front of the hole where the doorknob used to be. She turned to see that Five was still looking at the ground, but he continued.

"I was . . . I didn't want you to get scared."

"What are you talking about?" Valerie asked softly as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Val, I . . . I trust you," Five said quietly as he turned to face her. "But I didn't want you to get scared about what I told Vanya."

Valerie walked back over to him, sitting next to him on the couch as she inquired, "Why weren't you worried that Vanya would get scared?"

"Well, I was. But the reason I didn't tell you is probably that . . ." He mumbled the next few words so quietly that Valerie had no idea what he had said.

"You know, you need to speak louder if you want people to hear what you said," she pointed out with raised eyebrows.

Five cleared his throat, looking ahead at the stone fireplace as he restated, "Because I care about you more than the others." He gave a small sigh before resuming, "And I really am sorry that you had to go through all that, and believe me when I say I wish I never time-travelled."

Valerie felt heat rush to her cheeks, but she tried her best to ignore it as she cautiously asked, "What's wrong, Five?"

His eyes drifted towards the ground once more as he quietly spoke, "When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?"

"What?" she questioned as she furrowed her eyebrows. Obviously, it wasn't anything good.

"Nothing," he told her grimly as he shifted his gaze onto her baffled face. "Absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race, but . . . I did find something else. The date it happens." 

He paused, seeming almost too nervous to tell her. He took a deep breath.

"The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it."