Merry Christmas to musicalBooknerd13! :D Hope you enjoy!

It really said something about Noah's life that the entire city was on fire and he didn't even blink.

Oh, like he didn't know who did it. Honestly, he didn't know how anyone could suspect otherwise. Izzy was always doing this kind of thing. Nobody could stop her. He was just glad that for some reason she seemed to like him and thus would not maim or severely injure him. To be honest she was mostly a threat to herself, constantly getting in the hospital. Oh, and handcuffs did absolutely nothing due to a weird-ass trick she claimed to have learned from her great-great uncle (though at the time she'd been in character as Staci for no adequately explained reason).

Every time Izzy had been taken to jail, she'd ended up back in her house the next day without any explanation whatsoever. She also tended to come over to Noah's when she needed a place to hide out. Oh, he'd moan and gripe but ultimately always gave in. He didn't know why, to be perfectly honest. It's not like she enhanced his life or anything. It was more like despite all the irritation and stress caused by the fucking psycho, he still wished to see her okay. Owen had offered him tips on dealing with her, most of which weren't Noah's forte. As in, he didn't really feel like making out with someone who'd probably been eating lion meat or something a few minutes earlier.

He sighed, looking out his apartment window at the damage before him. "Why do I even bother..." he groaned, pulling out his phone and dialing Izzy's number. At first he hadn't wanted to accept her number, but had woken up to find it on his phone one day. He'd actually deleted it the first time around, only to find it again. The dance continued for three more days before he accepted defeat. And it actually did make his job easier. In that he could generally contact her if necessary.

"Izzy, what'd I tell you about this?" Noah asked irritatedly, observing the explosions before him.

"Yo dude, gotta say! I actually didn't mean to do that this time around."

Noah rolled his eyes instinctively, though he knew Izzy couldn't see. "Yeah, didn't mean to. I'm sure that'll keep you out of jail this time around. Okay, what do you need me to do?"

"I'm outside your window."

"What?"

"Yeah, I kinda stole a something from a lab that was top secret or some shit." She laughed at this. "Something about a temporal reset? I don't even know."

Noah sighed deeply, making it clear just how tired he was of this happening. Not that he'd turn her down. She was hard to say no to, if only because it was often difficult to determine what the question was. "Come on in!"

"I'm already in!" Izzy chirped. Noah yelped as he realized she was standing right in front of him.

"I really need to learn how to see that coming," the bookworm groaned as Izzy dropped a high tech whistling beeping thing on the floor of his apartment. "So...temporal reset? Explain, please."

"Well, this is the third time I've made it to your apartment," Izzy laughed. "Apparently you just turn back time, press the button, and then, whoop! You get to try again!"

Noah looked fearfully. "So...it's like returning to a previous save point if you messed up in a video game."

"I have no idea what that means!" Izzy chirped. "But do you realize what this means, Noahpaloahoppadingdong?"

"That in a previous timeline you probably blew up the planet without having anything on your conscience?" Noah remarked.

Izzy tapped her forehead thoughtfully. "Well...yeah."

The sound of a door being kicked down, and Izzy's eyes widened. "Shit, they found me!" She held up the device. "Because it takes everyone back to the point in time I want to, I've had to rewind a couple times! Looks like I'm gonna have to do it again."

"Wait, what are you-" Noah began, as his apartment door was kicked open by a SWAT team. Grinning gleefully, Izzy turned back the clock five minutes-approximately at the start of her conversation with Noah.

A flash, and the timeline winked out of existence.

"Yeah, didn't mean to. I'm sure that'll keep you out of jail this time around. Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Noah waited for her on the other end, before she responded distractedly. "Huh? Oh. Right, forgot what I was..."

"Unsurprising," Noah sneered. "Now if you'll actually get to the point-"

"Sorry about this!" Izzy was suddenly in his room, and quickly threw him over her shoulder and jumped out the window.

"Wait, what?" Noah barely had time to react before the psychopath leaped out the window. He screamed as she hit the apartment roof next to them, and continued running.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Noah yelled.

"Time eraser! Thingy! Government!" Izzy cackled at her own non-sequitur.

"I'm not even gonna bother," Noah sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

The two continued running as a helicopter followed their trail. "Izzy," Noah said. "If I die because of this-"

"What?" Izzy laughed. "No, stupid. You won't die! I promise!"

Izzy jumped another building. Noah's hands slipped from the sweat, and he fell down to the ground, screaming all the way.

Izzy made it, looked down and saw his broken body on the ground. She snapped her fingers. "Crap."

She promptly set the rewind device back a few minutes further than what she'd done before. "Guess it wasn't enough before."

Another flash, and she was gone.

Noah sighed, looking out his apartment window at the damage before him. "Why do I even bother..." he groaned, pulling out his phone and dialing Izzy's number.

He was surprised and yet somehow still supremely not when Izzy hurtled through his window, screaming at the top of her lungs. He simply looked bored as she slung him over her shoulder and ran out the window.

"So, what happened this time?" he asked.

"Tookatimedeviceandnowthegovernmentisaftermekaythanksbye," Izzy said, this time taking a fire escape down to the ground instead of letting him die again. No one should let their friend die. That would be bad.

"You know, it really says something that I understood all of that!" Noah said casually, as she sprinted into the fire department, kicking the poor fireman out of his vehicle and hijacking it.

"Do you even know how to drive that thing?" Noah asked rhetorically. "And where are we going?"

"To get a lawyer!" Izzy cackled, slamming her foot on the accelerator.

Noah glanced around the neighborhood. "This is around where Courtney lives."

"Oh yeah? Which house?"

"That one," Noah pointed at one ahead. "But you should probably slow-"

Izzy veered and slammed straight into the front of Courtney's house. She heard screaming and popped her head out to see Courtney standing there with a look of shock on her face.

"Did you just..." she stuttered. "Did you just slam into my house?"

"Yep!" Izzy chimed happily. "BE OUR LAWYER."

Behind Izzy's back, Noah stared wide-eyed at Courtney and made a cuckoo sign with his fingers.

Courtney stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before picking up her phone. "Okay, I'm calling the cops."

"NO DON'T-" Izzy yelled, slamming the accelerator and slamming straight into Courtney.

Noah screamed. "WHAT THE HELL, DID YOU JUST KILL HER? DID YOU SERIOUSLY JUST-"

Noah continued shouting and screaming while Izzy glanced at her rewind device. She stroked it, before setting back the time, glancing carefully at the clock.

She pressed the button.

Noah sighed, looking out his apartment window at the damage before him. "Why do I even bother..."

Izzy burst in through the window, waving and grinning. Noah gave an unimpressed look. "Okay, what happened?"

"Time rewind! Lesgo!"

Once more, Izzy carried Noah on her shoulder and this time went through his door, not out the window. She ran down the staircase and laughed at the top of her lungs, disturbing the neighbors to no end.

"So, where are we going?" Noah asked.

"Let's escape the city!" She said excitedly. "We could go through the sewers or maybe hide in the subway system!"

"Subway system sounds slightly less torturous," Noah sighed. "Let's go there."

"WOO!"

The two ran down the street, and Noah could hear the military coming after them. To his surprise, Izzy proceeded to turn, and they went into a literal Subway.

"Izzy...is this really what you mean by a Subway system?" Noah asked.

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. "The Subway system is a secret government communication network based in tunnels beneath the city connecting all the locations!"

The seemingly docile Subway employees looked up as she said this, eyes wide.

Noah groaned. "Izzy, that doesn't make sense. Why would that be a thing?"

"Listen to your friend, girl," one of the employees said in monotone, pulling out a gun. "He's more likely to live than you are."

Noah saw the gun and his eyes widened. "Izzy..." he said, setting himself down on the floor.

"No way, monsters!" Izzy yelled at the Subway employees. "I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, YOU CAN'T HIDE IT ANY MORE!"

"IZZY!" Noah shoved Izzy out of the way as the employee fired, and he collapsed to the ground with a bullet wound in the gut.

Izzy stood over him, a surprised and slightly desperate look on her face. Slowly, she glanced at the rewind device, guilt in her stomach.

She pressed the button.

Every time Izzy had been taken to jail, she'd ended up back in her house the next day without any explanation whatsoever. She also tended to come over to Noah's when she-hooooooly shit she was standing right in front of him and was screaming a battle cry as she lobbed him over her shoulder and holy shit what the fuck is going on.

Noah composed himself as he found himself jumping out the window on Izzy's shoulder. He felt an acute sense of deja vu, but he shrugged it off. Strange things happened, after all. "Okay, so what'd you do this time?"

"BLUH."

"Okay, you don't wanna say," Noah sighed. "If I die, I blame you."

"Fair enough," Izzy said, feeling a slight twinge of guilt at this before shrugging it off.

"So, where to? The moon?"

"Nah," Izzy grinned, glancing around for something else to do that wouldn't get anyone killed. "Let's go see Chris McLean and learn how he stayed out of jail! He can tell us his secrets!"

"Do you even know where he-oh, of course you do," Noah said, realizing halfway through that this was Izzy he was dealing with here. "Well..." He rubbed his hands together. "He's caused a lot of misery for us, so it'd be nice to return the favor."

Izzy looked a bit shocked for a moment, and he glanced at her in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"Well, I think this is the first time you've ever agreed with what I've wanted to do," Izzy said, sounding surprisingly touched.

"What? It's a good idea, for once," Noah said, folding his arms across his chest and looking away from her.

Remembering the way it'd gone the last time, she stifled her thoughts and continued going. "Alright, to Chris we go!"

"We can use my car," Noah said, getting out his keys. "And I'll drive."

Izzy started to protest but he wouldn't have any of it. He got in the car and began driving, asking Izzy for directions. Within half an hour they'd located his mansion.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Noah asked Izzy, willing to give up the driver's seat.

"Nah, it's all you," she grinned.

Noah grinned evilly and slammed the accelerator, heading straight through the field and shredding his shrubbery, before parking it right by his front door. "I don't care if it's illegal, I've been wanting to piss him off for YEARS," he laughed maniacally, getting out of the car.

Izzy kicked down the door and the two came in. Chris was currently asleep on the couch, snoring peacefully.

Noah nodded, and Izzy grabbed him by the collar. He snorted, waking up and looking blearily around him. "HOW'D YOU STAY OUT OF JAIL FOR SO LONG? TELL US YOUR SECRET," she bellowed.

"Whaaaaa," Chris asked, belching slightly as he talked. "Oh, hey kids..."

"How'd you stay out of jail for so long?" Noah asked.

"Slept with...the head of police..." Chris yawned. "She digs me, yo."

"Well, that's out of the question," Izzy said. "Noah, wanna do something else?"

"Well, this is the first idea of yours I've agreed with," Noah smiled. "Let's celebrate."

Izzy could hear the government closing in, and she sighed. "Okay, let's do it!"

"Wait, what are you..." Chris groaned.

Izzy proceeded to take a soda sitting on the counter and drench him with it! "RUIN EVERYTHING!" she yelled triumphantly.

Laughing like idiots, the two defile Chris's home. Noah knew in the back of his mind that he'd get arrested for this, but he didn't care. For one of the first times in his life he was having fun. Nothing was going to take that away from him.

Milk was splashed on his bedsheets. His hairspray collection was tainted by eggnog and pineapples. And it was all Chris could do to blearily try to stop them, to no avail. The two were laughing like idiots (and assholes) but they didn't seem to care.

The door burst open and Izzy dove for cover. Chris and Noah were too slow. Gunfire rained throughout and Chris and Noah fell to the ground, bleeding. Noah coughed weakly and made eye contact with Izzy.

His mouth tried to form a word but he fell to the ground, dead.

Izzy froze in horror.

Three times now she'd watched him die. She was forcing him to relive it over and over again.

He'd had fun this time, and still he died.

Was it really this easy for her to kill the people she cared about?

A dawning realization passed over her, and she glanced at the device, quickly moving it back to the time she wanted.

There was one thing she needed to do.

It really said something about Noah's life that the entire city was on fire and he didn't even blink.

Oh, like he didn't know who did it. Honestly, he didn't know how anyone could suspect otherwise. Izzy was always doing this kind of thing. Nobody could stop her. He was just glad that for some reason she seemed to like him and thus would not maim or severely injure him. To be honest she was mostly a threat to herself, constantly getting in the hospital. Oh, and handcuffs did absolutely nothing due to a weird-ass trick she claimed to have learned from her great-great uncle (though at the time she'd been in character as Staci for no adequately explained reason).

Noah turned, and was surprised to find a tear-stained Izzy standing before him.

He was even more surprised when she hugged him.

"Whoa...what brought this on?" he asked, uncertainly returning the hug.

"Thank you for putting up with me," she said, digging her face into his shoulder.

"No...no problem," Noah said in confusion. "What...exactly is going on?"

Izzy released herself, glancing at the device. Sighing, she turned the time back until it read three hours-before she'd stolen the rewind device.

"Just needed to say thanks," she said, resuming her usual perky behavior.

She pressed the button one last time.

The day was oddly quiet. Noah yawned, having just woken up from his nap. He could have sworn he'd just been doing something. Ah well. Strange things happened, after all.

He got up, his mind drifting over to Izzy for whatever reason. He did worry about her sometimes. She was always in danger of getting herself killed, after all.

Noah got out his phone, and quickly dialed her number. He didn't know why he did, but he felt the urge to.

To his surprise, she picked up after the first ring.

"Noah?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Hey," Noah yawned. "Before you ask...I don't really know why I called. Well, it's like...that kind of gut feeling you get sometimes?"

"Ah yeah, I get it."

"Well," Noah laughed slightly. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay...weird, right?"

"You never worry about me! What brought this on?"

"I'm just as confused as you," Noah shrugged. "Anyways, I just want you to know that I appreciate you. And that... if you want, you could come play Cards Against Humanity with me and Owen tonight. Our fourth person couldn't join, and it's not fun with three people."

It was quiet on Izzy's end for a few seconds. Noah tried to discern what was happening on the other end. "Thanks, Noah," Izzy said, and if Noah didn't know better he'd say she was on the verge of tears. "I'll be there."

"Bye," Noah said, and hung up.

The cynic sighed, and sat down.

He didn't know why he put up with her,to be perfectly honest. It's not like she enhanced his life or anything.

Well, he thought to himself wryly as he kicked back and opened a book. Maybe a little.