Word count: 1793

"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 told me what you did during all those years when you were in the future." Valerie pointed out with raised eyebrows. Her hands clasped around the mug full of decaf coffee, and the warmth seeped through. "Everything I know is just about the apocalypse."

Five, who was sitting beside her at the bar table that faced the window of the coffee shop, blinked quickly. "Uh . . ."

"C'mon Five, I already know it was all murder," she chuckled lightly as she stared out of the window at the passing people. "No need to hide it."

"You sure you won't get mad?" Five questioned tentatively, his eyes narrowed at her as her face broke out into a reassuring grin.

"I'll try my best."

Five took a long sip of his coffee and heaved a sigh before starting, "Well, the first eight or nine years wasn't much. Just me and Delores travelling the world, hanging onto whatever food or drink we could scavenge. That's when I started drinking a lot more alcohol."

"Yeah, hey, I've been meaning to ask about Delores, actually. She . . . How . . . How did you guys . . ." She struggled to put her thoughts into words, not wanting to say anything rude. It was a mannequin, but she didn't want to hurt Five's feelings. "What was it like?"

"We had some good times. But I don't know, it wasn't the same as . . ." He trailed off, his lips forming a small frown as he got lost in his thoughts.

"As what?" Valerie raised an eyebrow before taking a sip of her coffee.

Five was silent for a moment before quietly admitting, "As being with you." 

Valerie's cheeks suddenly warm, and she took another deep sip of her coffee. 

"Delores was great," he continued with a sigh; "she filled as company for me in those many years, but . . . getting back to you is what got me through everything. Also, stopping the apocalypse."

"Yeah, I'd say the second thing is pretty important too," she giggled, her right hand separating from the mug and unconsciously playing with the piano pendant of her necklace.

A small smile spread onto Five's face as he took notice of her action. "You still have that?"

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before following his gaze and looking down at the glittering pendant that was being twirled between her fingers. "Of course. I haven't taken it off."

"Huh." His smile only grew bigger as his gaze remained on the pendant.

"What," she giggled, "you thought I would've thrown it away or something?" 

"I don't know" —he shrugged— "it's just been so many years."

"Well, I did spend twelve years in absolutely nothing. This necklace is what reminded me of home." She gave a small smile as she looked back down at it. She looked back up at him, a stern expression on her face as she reprimanded, "I still don't like the way you got it though."

"What? I got it in a totally legal, good citizen way," Five insisted as he feigned innocence, giving her a sweet smile that covered his lie.

She shook her head, an amused smile on her face as she pointed out, "You could have at least stolen money from Dad or something. And that's already bad in itself."

"Ah, next time," Five said and waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Anyway, do you think that Hazel—"

"—is banging that waitress, Agnes, from Griddy's Doughnuts?" Valerie giggled. "Yes, definitely."

"Yeah, like 'I have a vested interest in a doughnut shop'?" Five nodded with a boyish grin that she hadn't seen in a long time. "What else could it mean?"

"I really didn't see this coming," Valerie laughed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "First we save the world, and now one of the guys who was trying to murder you wants to run away with a sweet, old lady that sells doughnuts?"

"I wonder how Cha-Cha feels about it," Five said in amusement as he brought his cup to his lips.

"Oh, God, yeah." Valerie's eyes widened as she thought about it, and she shook her head. "Probably not that happy. Also, you never finished telling me about the future."

"Damn," he muttered with a crinkled nose, "I thought you had forgotten."

"Hey!" she laughed, swatting his arm lightly. "Tell me."

"Well, I just got a bunch of missions, travelled to a bunch of different times so that I could kill people," he recounted briefly and shrugged mindlessly. "Wasn't that amazing."

"Who was . . . the most innocent person that you killed?" she questioned while squinting her eyes before taking another sip of her coffee.

Five's eyes widened. "I don't think you want to know."

"Is it that bad?" Valerie asked worriedly as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Uh . . ." He nodded slowly, a sheepish expression on his face. "It's—you would probably hate me if I told you."

"Oh, Five, I could never hate you," she said gently. "I mean, I could dislike you very strongly—and I have in the past when you were being an annoying little shit—but I could never hate you. C'mon how terrible can it be? It's not like you murdered a baby or something."

He stayed silent.

Her eyes widened in horror as she took the silence as confirmation. "You killed a baby?!"

"Well—not a baby," he said awkwardly. "She was just . . . what, maybe three or four years old? That's a toddler, isn't it?"

Valerie stared at him, her mouth wide open in shock. "You . . ."

"I told you!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air. "I said you wouldn't want to know, and that you'd hate me if I told you!"

"I don't hate you, Five," she reassured him with a small shake of the head. "I just . . . What did the kid do? Look at you the wrong way or something?"

"She wasn't supposed to be born in the first place," Five sighed and took a long sip that drained his cup of the remaining coffee. "If the Commission let her live, it would have caused disruptions in the timeline, and everything would've been messed up, so . . . had to do what I had to do."

Valerie was silent for a moment, processing all this as he nervously watched her. "Was it hard? To kill such a young kid?"

"I mean . . . Yeah, of course. I was used to killing older people," he answered as he shrugged lightly.

"Hm." She frowned before drinking the rest of her coffee and sighing. "Okay. Want to go home?"

"No, not yet." Five stood up before offering his hand, the corners of his lips tugging upwards. "I want to go somewhere else first."

Valerie took his hand, an eyebrow raised in intrigue.

Tightening his grip on her hand, he led her out of the coffee shop and the two of them began to walk along the sidewalk. 

It was now settling into early evening, with the sun beginning to set, and a stunning pink-purple colour decorating the sky behind the pillow-like clouds.

"So, uh, where exactly are we going?" Valerie questioned.

"Do you remember that park we always used to sneak out to?" he asked, a small grin forming on his face.

"Oh, yeah," she giggled.

Ever since they were about thirteen, they had begun to sneak out to a park that was about an eight-minute walk away from their home every night. They would wait until everyone was asleep, and, after locking their doors, Five would spatial-jump there while Valerie ran there.

They would do all sorts of things while they hung out there: swing on the swing set, study for any upcoming tests (or at least, she would attempt to teach him while he complained), or simply just talk. It was through moments like those in the early morning that caused Valerie to grow feelings for him, and they only lasted as good memories.

"I figured we could go there again," he said with a shrug as he gave her hand a small squeeze. "Now that the fate of the world isn't in our hands anymore."

After a couple of minutes, the two of them had reached the park. It looked exactly the same as it had twelve years ago, except for the additional rust that was edged on the metal bars of the swing set, and a new wooden bench in which they sat down in.

The sky had transformed into a deep blue, only a little bit of pink and clouds visible on the horizon. A cool breeze lightly pushed through the air, sweeping the grass and slightly blowing Valerie's hair to the side as she sat beside Five. The park was empty; it usually was whenever they visited (although, their past visits had been around one in the morning).

Valerie closed her eyes, enjoying the scent of the freshly-baked bread and the sweet smell of whipped cream that wafted over from the bakery that wasn't too far. She had truly missed this place.

Five watched as she took in the sight, and she noticed only a few minutes after.

He smiled as he murmured, "I missed coming here with you."

"Me too." She smiled back before furrowing her eyebrows and stammering, "I mean coming here with you, not with me."

"I got it," Five chuckled. 

He shifted closer to her on the bench, their bodies now barely having even an inch of space in between them. 

He was quiet for a moment as he looked out at the darkening sky before he turned towards her and whispered, "Hey, Val?"

"Mhm?" She turned her eyes away from the shrouding clouds overhead and turned to him, a small smile on her face.

He gazed into her eyes for a moment before murmuring, "I love you."

Valerie smiled as she felt a rush of warmth spread throughout her chest. "I love you too."

Their faces began to move closer towards each other, their lips barely brushing each other when an ear-deafening boom sounded, immediately drawing their attention away from each other and towards the noise.

"What the hell was that?" Five questioned as another booming noise erupted.

Valerie turned her head, trying to find the source when she saw smoke rising through the air in the opposite direction that they were facing. It seemed as though the smoke was coming from where the Academy was, another drift of smoke appearing with each reoccurring explosion.

Valerie's eyes widened as she realized. "The Academy."

"Vanya," Five breathed out. "She started the apocalypse."