"Come on!" Cassie pushes me off of her and jumps to her feet. Her hands wrap around my arms, and swiftly pull me up with her.

Corax takes off from his perch and lands on my shoulder.

"We need to wait just one minute!" I say quickly. "Someone is coming to take over for Vince and Ivy, and then we can do whatever you want."

"Ugh, fine." She lets herself fall back onto the couch beside me.

"Sorry these past few days have been so bad."

"I'm just itching to get home."

"Hey Corax? Some of the birds joined the caravan. I don't know if they're planning on staying or not, but they're downstairs."

Corax's eyes shine with excitement.

"There's nothing stopping you and everyone else from flying through the city, if you want to. Just be safe, please."

"Safe." Corax reassures me. "Upstairs."

"I'll ask them." I relay Corax's request to the birds, and they don't hesitate to flood the elevator, landing on every surface they can find, primarily Emma.

It takes longer than I would like for the elevator to reach the penthouse. No matter how fast the elevator is, it's still a lot of floors to scale. It does open eventually regardless.

A colorful flood escapes the doors the moment the first crack appears. Corax takes off from my shoulder, joining the flock quickly scoping out the entire room. Corax lands by one of the broken windows and lifts up the blanket covering it. One after another, the birds shoot through the small opening and into the open sky, disappearing as quickly as they appeared.

"Safe." Corax reassures me once again before following them out the window.

Emma is left stunned, alone in the elevator.

"Is this the lady who's helping Mary?" Cassie asks, and waits for my nod. "Come on, I'll introduce you." Cassie stands up and Emma follows closely behind, still a little off-kilter, leaving me alone.

Or I guess I'm not alone, I'm never alone. I watch through my cameras for the flashes of color streaking between rooftops. Citizens still approach my bodies, asking their endless questions, sharing their endless concerns. The server is always full of people, always talking, always moving amongst themselves. Even if I don't pay attention to any of them, they're still a part of me, and they always will be.

It's only a few minutes before Cassie, Vince, and Ivy return. Even Ivy is letting the relief show clearly on her face.

"So what's the plan?" Vince asks.

"Blue's taking a vacation, so we're going home." Cassie says.

Ivy looks at me doubtfully, and not unfairly. I can't fully relax, I still have to be available to answer questions at all times. Plus, I can't just expect everyone to instantly do things exactly like they need to. I'm certain Monary and Ray will have questions, or to point out things that they don't need to. Thankfully, she doesn't call me out on it.

The elevator is in near constant use, but I hijack it and force it to the top floor. We only need to wait a few moments before it opens and I send it into the basement.

Vince lets himself lean against the wall and his eyes drift closed.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"Just looking forward to actually relaxing, Little Blue." He takes a deep breath, pushes himself off the wall, and stands up straight. "Mary needs a lot of help. I told Emma to forward a message to get us if she needs a break."

I'm going to make sure she doesn't need them. Saccharine might be able to help in her place, and if not, I'll find someone else. Mary is my fault, and I'm not going to make them deal with that.

"So, how do you want to relax?" Ivy asks.

"I just want to hang out with all of you, find some time to play with the kids, and especially check on Maria. All of them were very disappointed when I couldn't stay."

"Maria?" Vince asks, his voice deep with understanding. "Did you need to drop off a kid?"

"Her dad died, and her mother a few months before that."

"Ah, sorry Little Blue." He rests a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We all know how rough that is."

I can only nod back. I don't want to start crying now. It's supposed to be a vacation, I'm supposed to be relaxing.

"How about we just play some games? Maybe liar's dice, for old times sake?" Ivy asks.

"I'll let Lucas know we're coming."

I walk everyone through the underground tunnels, only returning to the surface when we're close to Silver's. Sure, it's rare that one of my bodies gets attacked in public, but I'm not going to take that chance.

Corax flies just above us the moment we're on the surface, perching atop a nearby building. How did he even know we'd be here? He couldn't see where we were going after we entered the elevator. However he did it, I'm not complaining. Just knowing he's close is nice.

I don't pay attention to the faces of those in the compound. I don't want to know how many of them are genuinely happy to see me, I don't want to know how many of them see me as a threat, or a monster. We just walk straight past them, and upstairs.

Lucas and Ethan are already in their room with the table set up by the time we arrive. I know it's safe for us to enter, I can see that they're prepared for us already, but I let Vince knock on the door first regardless.

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Lucas is up out of his chair the same instant Vince's knock rings out. He pulls open the door, his eyes settling on me for just a moment. He hides his worry beneath a happy mask, and steps back. I wonder what emotion I'm even showing right now.

"Come in! Come in!" Lucas calls out.

We all file inside. I take the most cramped chair, and Cassie takes the one beside me. Her hand snakes out under the table, entwining her fingers in mine. I give her a smile, and squeeze her tight.

"So! What are we playing?" Lucas reaches behind him, pulling out a beer for each and every one of us. Well, all of us except for me. Even if I could drink, it wouldn't be responsible for me to do, not when I have the entire city just a thought away.

"Liars dice." Ivy answers for us.

"Are we making any deals this time?" Lucas asks.

"Winner decides if we retire." Vince cracks open his beer with a sharp hiss.

"What's even the point of a deal if we're all just going to say yes?" Cassie asks. "No, loser's buying dinner. A nice one."

"I have nearly limitless money, and access to all the food produced in this city." I remind her. "I could order a steak to be delivered from Vegas every single day for the next hundred years. You can already have anything you want, within reason of course. I don't want to make the same mistakes the top floors did."

"Then I'll have to make sure you lose." Ivy responds with a gleam in her eye.

I'm not sure I like whatever she's planning. I'll just have to make sure I don't lose, and then pay for dinner anyway.

"I think I can live with buying dinner." Vince shrugs.

"I'm a little short on money, but I can scrounge something together." Lucas reaches behind him, taking out six sets of dice, and six cups to go with them.

"You mean you can borrow more from Liam, right?" Ethan asks, taking his cup.

"He does that shit with you too?" Cassie asks. "He knows he's never getting that money back, right?"

"Hey! I pay you back!" Lucas says.

"Uh-huh. And the first five arcs I ever lent you?" She asks with a knowing smile.

"That one's funny to not pay back." He drops a few dice into his cup, places one hand atop it, quickly shakes the cup, and brings it down hard onto the table, blocking the opening. "Now come on! Let's play!"

"Oh, speaking of a waste of money." Ivy says dramatically, and fishes into her pocket. She pulls out a pair of hand carved clay ravens. She places one in front of Cassie, and the other in front of me.

"What the hell! How? When?" Cassie yells, glancing between both her and me.

I turn my attention momentarily back to the network.

"Monary? Can you do me a favor? Check the cameras from when I took over. Did Ivy ever carve or buy two little clay animals?"

"She did not." Monary responds a moment later.

"I have no idea." I answer Cassie's question. "She definitely didn't buy them, or at least not after I took over."

"That was days ago! You have not been carrying these things around all that time."

Ivy only shrugs in response, a satisfied smile sitting proudly on her face.

"I can't think of any other way she could have them." I take the small bird carefully in my hands. "Thank you." I tuck the statue safely inside my arm, somewhere it won't rattle around or get crushed.

We return to our game. All of us roll our dice, and take a secret peek.

The game is exactly what we all needed. Everyone gets progressively more drunk, and with that, has progressively more fun. All of them let themselves relax fully, letting their guards down completely for the first time in a very long time. I do the same, or at least try to when I'm not distracted by the city. People still need their concerns heard and reassured, and Monary and Ray are both still settling in. I have to constantly reassure them that, no, I don't care if someone says they wish I was dead in their own private house. I'm not going to police someone's thoughts. It's just when they take an action to make it come true that we need to act.

Vince ends up losing our game, and we switch to another board game. Instead of making him spend money, I set my bodies to work. The tower's kitchen is still well stocked, and I can cook awfully quickly with five separate bodies working in unison. I make a feast for everyone, not nearly as good as they deserve, but the best I can give them regardless.

I get a lot of strange looks from everyone in the compound when I try to deliver the food. To be fair, it takes me three identical bodies to carry everything. I'd probably give a look to Oscar too if he suddenly showed up with triplets.

"I have a surprise." I say when it finally comes back around to my turn.

"Don't tell me you're about to win." Ethan groans.

"No, don't worry." I've been tracking his hand, not using the cameras of course, just remembering what he picked up. I know for a fact he's going to win as soon as it gets to his turn. The door opens, and I and I and I step inside. I place everything on the table, as out of the way of our game as I can.

"Holy shit Blue, when'd you make all this?" Cassie asks.

"I thought I'd take care of dinner so Vince didn't have to."

"Well thanks Little Blue. I appreciate it." He takes a plate, puts a little bit of everything on it, and begins to pass them out to everyone else.

Our game pauses while everyone eats, and I use the opportunity to focus on the city once again. I've missed a few things, but nothing too important. The city isn't going to collapse if I'm absent for a few minutes.

The game only restarts when everyone is stuffed, and every bite of food I brought is gone. Only for Ethan to instantly win.

Our day doesn't last forever, but that's alright. We have all the time in the world to be together another day.

"I think if we don't stop, Vince is going to fall asleep in his chair." Lucas points out.

"No I'm…" His head jumps back straight up, trying to look like he's at attention, despite the exhaustion on his face. "Yeah ok. You all sleep well." He pushes himself out of his chair, stumbling a little, unsteady on his feet.

"How much water did you drink?" Cassie asks.

"I made sure he got enough." I reassure her.

"Hope you're right Little Blue." He opens the door and steps through.

"I'll take care of him." Ivy promises before following him outside.

Cassie looks at me.

"Are you sleeping in your room?"

"Oh. I can if you want me to." I feel a little bad sharing my disappointment so clearly while Lucas and Ethan are here, but I just can't hide it.

"No, I- Shut up and come here." Cassie takes my hand and pulls me into the empty hallway, and into her room. The two of us step through the door, and she drops onto her bed.

"Thanks for actually taking a break." She says. "Although I could tell you were working a few times."

"Only when I had to. I didn't realize how much I needed to relax. Hey, do you want to go read on the roof?"

"Pretty sure Silver still has guards up there." She grabs a blanket and pulls it on top of herself.

"That's ok. There's always another roof we can relax on."

Cassie squints at me in confusion, before realization floods her face.

"Hell yeah! Let's go!" She throws the blanket onto the floor, jumps to her feet, and grabs two books from her bookshelf. Romance for her, and poetry for me. She tucks them both under one arm, and hefts the telescope she made for me.

The two of us quickly rush through the tunnels. She can barely hold herself back from leaving me behind. The elevator carries us upwards, towards the top floor. From there, a small staircase leads to the roof. Endless space surrounds us, a bright moon sitting high in the sky. Below us sits the dome, softly buzzing, with the city spread out inside it.

I walk to the edge and look below. I take in every light, every moving person inside it. Cassie stands next to me, leaning against the railing. A black void breaks through the dome, landing easily on my shoulder.

"Hey Cassie? Corax? I think things are going to be ok."

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