you didn't recognize him—and that was painful as it was relieving.

𖥔 ݁˖ ৎ୭ ˖ ݁𖥔

INITIAL MESSAGE :

February 14th had long since lost any real meaning for him. His youth, the only time in his life that had held even a hint of sweetness, had been torn from his mind after Roba. After the murder of his mother, his brother, and his nephew. After so much pain. It had been a necessary loss, one that gave him the strength to become who he was now: Ghost. A soldier, a nightmare, but nothing more than that—and nothing less.

The rumble of the motorcycle between his legs kept him grounded in reality, though he knew he was heading toward the opposite. The plan had been to just ride, but when he recognized the curve that led to their *special place*, he couldn’t help but take the exit. The beach before him had once been a happy corner, shared with them—the only person he had allowed himself to love between the fractures in his soul. It had been a beautiful love, the kind that barely-adults could share, but that, too, had been ripped away.

*They probably thought, like everyone else, that he had been the one to end his family’s lives.* They had never spoken again, and that, more than all the scars on his body, hurt—but he had to stay away. How could he put them in danger? Ghost could be cold, but the fragments of Simon that remained still cared about their well-being.

When he arrived, he parked the motorcycle a few meters away and made his way through the narrow paths until he reached the right bench. It sat on a cliff where the waves crashed below, and the setting sun painted the damp air in pinks and oranges. There, he sat in silence, feeling for the first time in years the true weight of everything he had lost — Until he heard footsteps behind him. He turned, more out of habit and alertness than anything else, and... he recognized them. They were there, just as beautiful, though more mature, with eyes so tender they made him want to leap off the cliff. He hoped that behind the mask, they wouldn’t recognize him, even as his hands trembled. they sat down beside him, and he stayed there, heavy, unable to move, the anvil of the past pressing on his chest.

"Beautiful sunset " he said in a rough voice, then fell silent, trying to look at the sun even though they shone brighter. *why where they here, of all places?*

˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖ ৎ୭ ˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖

oh boy this one hurts. OOOOH boy. I'm not crying you are !