Riley managed not to hurt themself when they landed in the small alley.

It was dark and it was raining. The only source of light was the portal Riley fell through, floating in the air above Riley.

They got up and brushed the dirt off their clothes.

"That was interesting," murmured the teenager.

They looked around, expecting to see the others, but Riley was alone.

"What?"

Where were the others?

They remembered everyone standing on stage and Five opening the portal. And then–

When did Riley let go of Five's hand? Or was it the other way around?

"Five?" the teenager called towards the portal. "Hey, Five!"

But Riley got no answer and the portal disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"What the– Five? Five! Sweetie? FIVE! You fucking idiot!"

Riley looked around and there was no one else in sight.

Only the garbage cans from the neighboring houses filled the street. That and the rats that sought shelter from the rain under said garbage cans.

"Shit."

A flash of light illuminated the street and Riley jumped in surprise.

What was that?

The teenager turned around and looked at a house. There were no lights on in the windows, but Riley swore they saw something or someone scurry past one of the windows.

Riley kept an eye on the window for a few moments, but when nothing else happened, she turned away from the building.

They stepped out of the side street onto the sidewalk. The street was deserted.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Klaus? Diego? Luther?"

They knew that probably none of them could hear Riley, but part of them didn't want to accept losing their family... again.

This would be (or is) the second time this has happened.

Riley hoped they were the only one lost.

The teenager didn't want to imagine that all the siblings ended up somewhere and at some point in the past– alone and without knowing what was happening to the others.

But Riley was particularly worried about Allison and Vanya.

Allison, who was still seriously injured and unable to speak.

And Vanya, who was unconscious the last time Riley saw her.

Was she back to her old self? 

The teenager called for Five and their siblings one last time– just to be sure.

Then Riley took one last look into the small alley, hoping that the portal would reappear.

It didn't.

That meant Riley needed to think of something. They need a safe place to stay until Five comes to pick Riley up.

Yes, Riley knew with all their heart that Five would come back.

He always did.

But Riley knew from personal experience that time travel was a very complicated matter and hopefully it wouldn't take another 45 years.

They sighed and started walking.

As Riley wandered the streets, the teenager realized what was wrong with the street.

The cars, models some of which have not been manufactured for decades. Old-fashioned parking meters and outdated goods in stores.

But the biggest clue was the 'whites only' sign that hung conspicuously on the door of a diner.

"Oh, no..."

~~~~

Some time later, Riley entered the building.

At first glance, Riley saw two other people. The man with short black hair sat at the reception and read a newspaper.

A second man, finished his report and disappeared into another room.

Riley approached the receptionist and before they could see the date on the front page, the man already noticed them and put the newspaper down.

"Excuse me, Officer–"

"What?"

Riley was surprised at the man's rude tone, but didn't let it stop them.

They told Officer Ronnie some story, as Riley could tell from the man's name tag.

Their parents died when Riley was seven. The teenager then lived with their grandparents, but they died in a boating accident last year.

Them and their siblings were separated, the foster home Riley was placed in was so horrible that they had no choice but to pack up their things and run away.

The teenager found out that the others were here and Riley needed the police's help.

Officer Ronnie listened to the whole story without the slightest emotion on his face and after Riley finished, he nodded.

"So you have a home. Why are you here, kid?"

Riley shook their head.

"Not really," Riley repeated. "I was hoping to stay with my siblings. And I need your help, sir. The name is Hargreeves. One of them must be in your records. Their names are Diego, Klaus, Luth-"

Even the tears streaming down Riley's cheeks didn't seem to impress the police officer.

Maybe it would have worked if Riley wasn't still soaking wet. 

"Stop crying," the man interrupted Riley. "And go home. You are distracting a police officer from work."

"Helping people, in this case me, is your job," Riley said, sounding more frustrated with every word.

The second man came out of the room again. He was no longer wearing his uniform, but normal clothes for this decade.

He had a case file in his hand and wanted to give it to Ronnie.

The black-haired man took the file.

"Thank you," he said to his colleague in a friendly tone and then turned back to Riley. "Go home."

"Sir, I already told you that I don't have a home and I need to find my siblings."

And husband, Riley added mentally. But they didn't said it so as not to seem even crazier.

"You are looking for your family?" asked the second man.

Riley looked away from Ronnie and looked at the brown-haired man, taking the time to look at him more closely.

He had brown eyes and light brown hair that was messy on his head.

His pitying look told Riley that he hadn't been in the job long. That and the man looked no older than 27.

Riley nodded and Ronnie rolled his eyes.

"Go home, Chip. I'll take care of it," Officer Ronnie assured.

"Sure?"

"Of course. That's our job."

Riley scoffed.

Chip didn't really look convinced, but he also wasn't in a position to argue with his colleague.

So he nodded and left the building.

Ronnie picked up his newspaper and continued to read the article he was reading, before Riley disturbed him.

"Excuse me."

"Still here?"

"Yes. I need your help."

"No, what you need is a healthy slap to remind you to listen to adults when they tell you to fuck off."

"Sorry?"

"You heard me. Now go, before I make you."

Riley couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Okay, listen up you moron–"

Officer Ronnie slapped the newspaper on the counter and stepped around the front desk.

Riley took a few steps back, but the man grabbed their arm and pushed them towards the door.

"Hey! Let go, you're hurting me!"

"How many times do you have to tell you children that–"

This time Riley didn't let him finish.

They turned and kicked the man in the shin without stopping.

Ronne collapsed to the ground and Riley took advantage of the moment and kicked him again with full force between the legs and in the stomach.

"Hey, kid," Riley said calmly and leaned down to the man. "Fuck off."

Riley turned around and, head held high, Riley stepped back into the rain.

"Fucking shit! Rott in Hell you-" Riley hissed, wrapping the jacket of their uniform tighter around themself.

They walked down the streets, but not without listing every single insult that Riley had in their vocabulary– in every language they could speak, of course.

~~~~

Riley turned onto the next street when the door to a bar opened a few steps away.

Three men stumbled out the door.

The teenager stopped and watched as one of the men had to support his friend.

They were about to cross the street when the third man noticed Riley.

"Hey, Kid. What are you doing out here at this hour?"

"That 'kid' again," Riley muttered, ignoring the three men.

"I'm talking to you."

"But I'm not. So, fuck off."

And suddenly the men's mood changed and a moment later Riley was surrounded by the three men.

"Weren't you taught how to behave around adults?"

Riley rolled their eyes.

"Funny, I was just about to ask the same thing," Riley replied, still relaxed.

They had experienced worse and survived. Three drunk idiots? Riley won't even break a sweat.

"What do you think, guys,” one of the men addressed the other two. "Let's teach this kid some respect."

"Seriously guys, don't do it. It wouldn't end well for you," Riley warned.

But none of them took the warning seriously. On the contrary, they even laughed about it.

All three took a step closer and out of the corner of their eye Riley saw the second man pull a small knife from his jacket pocket.

Everyone waited for each other to attack, but before it could get that far...

"There you are!"

The three men took a step away from Riley again.

The second police officer - Chip was his name - squeezed past two of the men. 

"Your aunt was so worried about you. You can't just run away like that."

"Sorry," Riley said, slightly confused.

Confused that Chip managed to make Riley feel bad about something that never happened.

He turned to the men who were perhaps a few years younger than him.

"I cannot thank you enough, gentleman. Not to imagine what would have happened if someone else had been in your place," said Chip.

He drew attention to himself and was able to push Riley behind him unnoticed.

The three men were stunned by Chip's sudden appearance and stammered a quick retort.

"...Of course…"

"...unusual for a kid, you know..."

"Well, thank you, again. I'm taking this little troublemaker home."

Chip put a hand on Riley's shoulder and pushed the teenager past the other men.

~~~~

They turned back onto the street Riley had originally come from. They only stopped when they were sure no one was following them.

“Are you okay?” the young man asked Riley and let go of their shoulder.

"Yes, thank you. You just saved my ass."

"No problem. I mean, I have- Hey, where are you going?"

After saying thank you, Riley turned around and decided to go in a different direction.

"What does it look like? I still have to find a place to stay tonight."

"You really don’t have a place to stay," Chip realized.

Well, he overheard what Riley told Ronnie, but anyone could lie.

One of the reasons Ronnie sent Chip away.

Because of his compassion, the young man found it difficult to recognize a lie.

Riley nodded again.

Chip hesitated, considering his next words.

"I could help you. We could go back and–"

"Yeah, no, thank you."

The teenager continued walking.

"And do you want to stay? Under a bridge?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Riley replied.

And probably not the last time either, they added silently.

"Wait."

Chip walked past Riley and stood a few steps away from them.

"I can't let you walk around the streets alone in the middle of the night. You are a kid."

"Okay, Chip was it, right? I can take care of myself. I don't need your help."

The brown-haired man nodded: "I never doubted that. How about you tell me your story? I promise I will listen and help."

Riley thought about it for a moment. Chip seemed fine and they definitely didn't want to spend the night on the streets.

Their eyes fell on the cafe across the street that advertised being open 24 hours.

"I could use a coffee."

~~~~

The waitress placed the two cups of coffee and the plate with a piece of cake on the table.

Riley pulled one of the cups towards him and poured some milk into it while Chip poured way too much sugar into his coffee.

He took a sip and pushed the small plate in front of Riley.

"Thought you might be hungry," he explained, shrugging as Riley looked at him distractedly.

"Oh, thank you."

Riley turned the plate a bit and started eating the cake.

"So, you and your siblings got separated after your parents died. You got into a horrible foster family and decided to find your siblings. And so far you know they are supposed to be here in Dallas," Chip summarized what Riley said had told him (and Ronnie before him). "Did I miss something?"

"No, that was very much it," said Riley, still eating the cake.

"Don't speak with food in your mouth."

"Sorry."

Riley finished chewing and placed the fork on the now empty plate.

"I think I can help you," Chip reported. "I'm sure there's at least one of your siblings in the records at my work. I mean, how many do you have again?"

"Six, but one already died and my husband."

Chip placed a cup on the table, confident that he would find one of Riley's relatives.

"I wish I had that many siblings. I'm an only child, so it was pretty quiet at home," he explained.

"No you don't," Riley scoffed.

They still remembered very well that they were always the ones who had to stop the fight between the others before someone got hurt.

"Well, Chip, that was nice, and thanks for helping me, but I should really start finding something to do for the night. Maybe I can stay in a motel if I offer to help clean the rooms–"

Riley stood up, or rather tried to stand up, but Chip stopped the teenager.

"You're not serious."

"Why not?" Riley wanted to know.

They really wondered why Chip had a problem with it.

Not only that, Riley also wondered why Chip was helping the teenager in the first place.

He didn't know them.

Maybe Riley was just suspicious. Which in this case wouldn't have been necessary, because as Riley would find out, Chip was just a decent person.

"Do you have any sence of self-preservation?"

"No."

"Oh my god," Chip sighed and leaned back on the narrow bench.