KISMET ─ vento aureo.

▹ TWENTY-SIX ;

☆ ⁺ « TELEPORT US OUT OF HERE

★˚⋆ IT FELT LIKE YOU HAD been searching for him for ages.

Finding him felt like a splash of nepenthe. A daydream you had never let yourself linger in.

He felt like finally coming home.

He met your embrace eagerly, swinging you up off your feet and leaving you breathless. You laughed as he set you down, his eyes the scattering of the sun on water.

"I found you," you couldn't help saying. "I can't believe I found you."

"I've been waiting for you," he said. He pulled you down onto the swing beside him, pushing off the ground to set it rocking.

"There's so much to tell you. I don't know where to start." You drank in his face like a person parched. He looked exactly as you remembered. His eyes and his mouth and the way his dark hair gently framed his face. It was incredible how little he had changed.

He brought your hand up to his cheek. A ring glinted dully on one of your fingers. Only then did you realize.

"Where's your mask?"

"I didn't want you to see me in it," he said quietly.

Inexplicably, thunder roiled overhead. He looked naked without his mask, now that you thought about it. That teardrop jewel that hung beneath his eye was a part of him now.

"You're taking too long," he said, kissing your knuckles. Kissing the ring. "I'm tired of waiting."

"I'm doing my best."

He gave you a mournful look. "I told you not to get involved with me. Now you're paying the price."

He worked the ring from around your finger and then threw it over his shoulder. You cried out but he ignored you.

"I'm tired of waiting," he said again.

You woke at the sensation of a cool hand on your forehead. Trish smiled wanly at you, her skin pale and her hair limp.

"Sleep well, Captain?"

You were in a healing pod, the foam around you still cool. You squeezed your eyes shut, then mustered all of your strength to sit up. Various little wires were hooked up to you. A monitor beeped nearby. "What happened?" you asked hoarsely. Trish passed you a cup of water before answering.

"Fugo said it was gas poisoning. Your helmet wasn't screwed on properly, so when the pod door opened, some of the gases from outside mingled with your oxygen. You finished your transfusion a while ago. Any longer out there and you probably would have gone loopy for good."

"How long was I out?"

"Twelve hours, give or take."

You leaned back against the pod. "Did everyone make it alright?"

"Mhm. JoJo's resting. Mista, Fugo and Narancia are working on cracking the hard drive we got from Polpo. We should be getting a ping from them any minute."

Trish checked over your vital signs on the monitor, then released the wires from your body and shut off the monitor. The med bay went suddenly quiet.

"Trish," you said. "Do you think . . . do you think I'm not myself?"

Trish stilled. "What do you mean by that?"

You didn't really know yourself. "Do I seem different? Ever since we accepted this job from Zero?"