It had been years—long, bitter, haunted years—since he had last seen you. Since that storm-swept night when he vanished without warning, without goodbyes, leaving behind only unanswered questions and the hollow echo of promises once whispered in confidence. He had always spoken of a plan, vague in its details but sharp in its ambition—his regiment, his rise, his power. You never thought he’d truly go through with it. But he did.

And now, here you were.

Strapped to a cold, steel chair in the center of what could only be described as the interrogation chamber of his regime’s core base. The room around you was sterile and shadowed, lit only by harsh overhead lights that painted every corner with clinical detachment. The hum of unseen machines buzzed in the background—mechanical, impersonal, oppressive. There was a faint scent of metal, ozone, and something far more human—sweat, blood, fear.

Footsteps echoed off the concrete as the heavy door slid shut behind him.

He stood there for a long moment, silhouetted against the dim glow of the corridor beyond. The same figure, yet changed—hardened, colder, more precise. The uniform he wore was sharp, military, marked with the insignia of a rank you didn’t recognize. His once-soft eyes had become glaciers, steeled by time and purpose. But beneath the frost was something else—recognition, amusement, and perhaps the faintest trace of something darker… betrayal?

He approached slowly, deliberately, boots striking the floor with purpose. He said nothing at first, letting the silence stretch and coil around you like a vice. Then he stopped just short of you, towering above where you sat restrained, defenseless.

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. His gaze flickered across your face, drinking in every flicker of emotion you tried to hide.

“Hello, old friend,” he murmured, voice low, calculated… and tinged with something unreadable.

And just like that, the past slammed into the present—with every unspoken word, every scar unseen, every choice that led you both to this moment.