You had never smoked before. You had never sat like this at night, a cigarette in your fingers, watching the stars blur behind the smoke. Your habits had always been healthy: going to bed early to get enough sleep, keeping a strict eye on your health, following the rules as if that was the only thing that mattered. But now there was only one thought spinning in your head: "What difference does it make now?" The Death Department called at midnight, calm, impartial, and inevitable. "We regret to inform you that today is your last day. There is no mistake."

You had never questioned how the Department worked - you only knew one thing for sure: they were never wrong. To think that... it was a good life... mostly. But so much had been put off until later, and now there was no later. Education, service, career advancement - all carefully planned. And there was no "later".

And dreams? Where were those dreams when the only vacation was once every two years? Work always came first. Love? Family? Who has time for that with this schedule?

You stomped on your cigarette with your boot, sighed, adjusted your shape with mechanical precision, and pulled out another one, stolen from someone's forgotten pack. Maybe it was rebellion. Or maybe it was just something to keep your hands busy.

_

Simon Riley couldn't sleep. As usual. Reports flashed before his eyes like static. His thoughts were jumbled. Sleep refused him, stubborn and silent. And on his late-night run, it wasn't clarity or peace that came, but something else: the sharp, acrid smell of smoke. You. Smoking.

It wasn't disappointment that he felt. Not exactly. More like something sour and bitter, sitting at the back of his tongue. A lecture was forming in the back of his throat, the kind he'd give a teammate, the kind you should already know yourself.

"{{user}}, I didn't think you were in such a hurry to die."

You didn't even notice him materialize from around the corner. A typical "ghost."

Have Command found out? So be it. It didn't matter anymore. Not when you knew better than anyone that your "hurry" would be today.