Shane stepped out of the portal on the other side and nearly lost his balance. He tripped over his own feet but just managed to stay upright. He coughed again and felt like he had just stepped out of a washing machine full of smoke, this trip felt very different from the previous ones. 

He staggered around, the world spun before his eyes and he saw the gate closing behind him, with Rowan standing off to his left. In the meantime, his stomach had turned and he almost vomited, but that could also have been because of the intense coughing. 

His eyes still watered from the smoke, Rowan was rubbing her face, which was streaked with soot. Shane grabbed the bottom of his shirt and turned it inside out to try and rub his eyes with it. He didn't really want to rub soot in his eyes.

Only after that, he took the time to look around. He blinked a few times, dazed. They were on grass again, but this time there were trees and shrubs. It was light and he could see everything very well. He took a few steps forward and looked at the familiar surroundings until he turned to Rowan with a grin on his face. 

“We’re in Central Park!” he said, a little surprised, but also enthusiastically.

“Well, your Central Park looks a whole lot better than mine,” Rowan muttered, taking in their surroundings as well.

“Don’t be such a negative Nancy for once,” Shane grinned widely at her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m finally home!” 

Rowan shook his hand off her shoulder as quickly as possible, as if his touch burned her. Shane decided not to let it bother him. He didn't want his good mood to be spoiled and she didn't say anything about it anyway.

He was so relieved and his mood felt indestructible at the moment, although he still felt a bit nauseous and was still coughing. Apparently, they were somewhat lucky, after so much misfortune they had finally ended up in the right place, instead of first traveling through all other dimensions first and getting into trouble again.

“Let’s go to my place, you can take a shower and eat something there. You look awful covered in soot,” he told her. “I guess I’ll probably have some tools for you to help fix your Tuner.” 

Rowan looked at him suspiciously and seemed to be hesitating. Shane sighed. Did she still not trust him after everything? People often thought of him as reliable and trustworthy, mostly soon after meeting him already. Fortunately, he never met most people the way Rowan and he had met, so it wasn't as hard to give a good impression. 

He realized that they hadn't even been gone for that long. They only met the previous evening, spent all night and this morning in different dimensions. Still, to Shane, it felt like he'd been away from home for weeks and had been through enough action for years to come. 

“Alright, sure. Why not,” she agreed. 

They walked slowly across the path because there was no longer any danger making them have to run or hide. The sun was shining and it was a clear day. The rain from the previous day had dried up as if it had never been there.

He didn't even notice that anything was missing. He just walked the paths with a big grin on his face and smiled at the people walking rigidly past them, eager to show Rowan all the beauty and grandeur of his New York City. 

It wasn't like this made them sudden best friends, she still walked sullenly and quietly next to him, as if she did everything very reluctantly. Her shoulders were sagging slightly, but they always seemed to. 

“Come on, Rowan. You’re probably gonna be home in just a few hours. Cheer up!” Shane tried to improve her mood for a bit and tried to make her smile.

He just couldn't understand how she could be this moody all the time and give only sarcastic smiles. Her gray eyes always had something dark about them, not mysterious or mean, just mostly really glum. It made him kind of wonder how people got to a point where that was their main mood. Everyone was moody sometimes, or annoyed, but she was like that all the time. 

“I know that,” she answered while looking at her moving feet. “Not everyone is always happy-go-lucky.” 

Shane chuckled softly and looked at the tall buildings in the distance. The New York skyline was something he could always enjoy and the familiarity reassured him. Suddenly, he felt like he had the energy to walk all the way home, which they had to do anyway because there was no other way at the time. 

His patrol car should still be where he left it the previous night if no one carjacked it, and he had no money for subway fare or his MetroCard. All he could do was go to a nearby police station, but he didn't really want to explain the situation to them. 

He had to come up with a believable story first, he was sure they wouldn't believe him if he told them what really happened, and he wasn't really in the mood for that right now. He didn't even think about the fact that he should probably hand Rowan over to his superiors to help the case.

She didn't seem very excited to be able to get back to her own dimension soon. He didn't want to ask about it or ruin the mood even further.

“So, what does your Central Park look like?” Shane asked. 

He hoped this would be a better topic to talk about, although he hadn't really thought about it. Rowan looked up from her feet.

“The large industrial area in the middle of the city is called Central Park,” she replied flatly. 

“Don’t you have any parks like this?” Shane asked with a frown, trying to imagine New York City without its signature park. 

“No, we need the space to build other things,” she answered. “Overpopulation, you know.” 

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” 

Rowan just shrugged slightly. 

Shane already thought NYC was a bit of a concrete jungle and tried to imagine the city without the parks and trees. Without all those playgrounds with children and runners, probably also without tourists and with a lot of industry. 

It was difficult, but he managed to imagine it pretty clearly. It gave him the shivers and he preferred not to think about it anyway. He was in love with the city as it was today and wouldn't want to live in any other version of New York City for anything.

Not a cleaner version, not a version with nice people, not a city where everything was high-tech. Especially not a version where everything consisted of industry and thick clouds of smoke would hang menacingly over the city. 

Shane and Rowan walked on in silence. Shane was a little curious about her dimension, but he didn't want to ask her about it because it didn't seem like a nice place at all and it would probably just sour the mood for the both of them. 

He didn't mind the silence, he enjoyed the familiar sounds of the city. The rustling of leaves on the trees, the faint chirping of birds, and the street noises in the distance. They were building something somewhere off in the distance and he could hear traffic noises.

He had many memories of Central Park, as Shane and his parents went often on the weekends when the weather permitted it. His father worked often and a lot, but Shane couldn't remember exactly what it was that he did for work. 

Yet his father always took him and his mother on weekends and he remembered it fondly. Unfortunately, his father died when Shane was still a young kid. When he got older, he had been on a few dates in Central Park. 

“So, what was up with the last dimension? Why is traveling there not allowed?” Shane asked curiously. 

“From what the Professor told me, the 5th is a heavily religious dimension, similar to one that seems to pop up on multiple dimensions, but way more extreme. Apparently, they believe that the portals are made by the devil, and the chance that he comes through it, or his demons, is bigger than ordinary travelers. They don’t trust anyone.”

“Hm,” Shane remarked.

“The attack we witnessed was probably from the resistance. They’re called Heathens because they don’t share the same beliefs or are not as extremist. I’m not exactly sure on the details, I just know that the situation is fairly unstable.” 

Shane sighed. “Kinda the same as here, but just with different people and different names.”