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Where is Carmen? She should've been here by now!

Ivy's fingers began slipping off the edge of the rocket. No, no, no, no!

'I'm gonna die, aren't I?' Ivy's fingers got closer to slipping off completely. She was taken back to Indonesia, when she was trying to open the truck that Tigress was fighting Carmen on.

'Well, Carmen, Zack, Player, it was great while it lasted. I'll miss you all, especially you, Carmen.'

She fell.

Ivy was screaming as she fell off the rocket. Ready to accept her fate and turn into a pancake on the ground.

'Goodbye, Carmen. Bro. Player. You don't know how much of a family you all were to me. I'll be watching from above. Farewell.'

"Ivy!" Zack called.

"Ivy!" Player shouted through the phone.

"Ivy! Wake up!"

Ivy jolted awake. Sitting up from her place in bed and rapidly gasping for air. She felt a hand running through her red hair. Ivy turned around to see one of the most important people in her life—-Carmen Sandiego. Ivy gasped, her hands feeling around Carmen's face to see if all of this was real.

"It's really you....it's really you!" Ivy cried, letting tears of joy and sadness fall onto her cheeks.

"Do you.....want to talk about it?" Carmen asked, putting a hand on Ivy's shoulder. Ivy shook her head, she couldn't appear weak in front of Carmen. If she talked about it, then she won't be the brave and fearless young girl she was supposed to be.

Carmen sighed. "Ivy, it's not healthy for you to bottle up your feelings like that. You're just a kid, and kids are definitely expected to have no control over their emotions." The Crimson Shadow said, gently rubbing Ivy's shoulder.

"It's just....what if you didn't make it on time today? I was helpless up there. Zack was trying to distract Le Chèvre and El Topo, you were hypnotized, and I was trying to stop the rocket from launching into space without Dr. Denim's confirmation. But, I almost died! And if you didn't save me, I would be dead! I would be all alone again. No friends, no more capers, no more traveling the world, and....no more Carmen Sandiego." Ivy cried harder, burying her face into her hands.

Carmen looked on in concern. She's never seen Ivy like this. Ivy was usually a young girl who always had the tendency to protect her little brother. And she was always happy to travel to a new country.

Carmen pulled Ivy closer to her, resting the younger girl's head on her shoulder and held her tight. Ivy immediately hugged back, sobbing loudly into Carmen's shoulder.

"Carmen, you're like a mother figure to me. Zack and I were just lucky that we ran into you that night at the donut shop. If we didn't, I don't even know where we would be." Ivy said, her voice muffled by the fabric of Carmen's shirt.

Carmen smiled. "I love you too, Ivy. You and Zack are like the adopted kids I've never had." She hugged Ivy tighter. The younger girl snuggled into Carmen's arms.

"Best. mom. ever."