#{thread: return}

It was night, clouded, and the sirens had already gone off. Rain had already begun falling, the storm was coming and just like three years prior… He’d planned it well; his return would be done in secret, just like his escape, under the cover of Aqua Laguna. The waves were already rising when he stepped off the last train of the night, hood over his face to cover his identity from the station guards.

Nosey little gossip hoarders.

He didn’t necessarily know what had brought him back here, perhaps nostalgia, Kaku had never stopped going on about it after they left, and the constant remembrance had him curious. He’d split off from them a month ago, hell they were splitting up anyway, Kumadori and Fukurou had disappeared a year before that, making their own lives elsewhere, Blueno had been next, the government weren’t after them, three rogue agents making their own lives… those three had nothing on the government anyway.

It was Kaku, Jyabura, Kalifa and he, the top agent… they held the secrets. Kalifa probably held the most which was why she remained with them, well, Kaku and Jyabura specifically, Lucci… he’d never been one for group activities.

He quickly made his way up the station stairwell, civilians still darting the streets to head up the second level, the scaffolding of what appeared to be a project around the outer rim of the city now covered in various layers of tarp and rope to keep it steady in the oncoming storm, whether it’d be safe or not he didn’t know, but he knew he needed to get to higher ground, and thus left the mystery project for the shelters.

Everyone was busy with their own problems, personal possessions being too heavy to carry, kids being too excitable to contain, nobody seemed to notice him there, in the shadows, having snuck in through one of the high windows when he noticed one of the Dock 1 foremen keeping check of how many people were in the shelters.

Overcrowding was not acceptable, not when there were plenty of shelters to occupy, he didn’t see which foreman it was mind you, hooded coats to keep the men dry, but the smell was similar: Cedar… and perhaps the odd fur mixed in, plus the unmistakable trace of cigar smoke meant…