The town hadn’t changed much.

Same cracked sidewalks. Same flickering streetlights that hummed softly once the sun dipped below the hills. The same quiet that settled over everything once night came, like the whole place was holding its breath.

Simon Riley noticed it the moment he stepped out of the truck.

Years had passed since he’d been here. Long enough that most people probably wouldn’t recognize the boy who used to run through these streets anymore. The military had carved him into something else entirely. Harder. Quieter. Sharper around the edges.

Now he moved like a shadow through the town he once knew by heart.

He wasn’t here for nostalgia. Not even close.

The mission had brought him back—intel about someone hiding out nearby. Someone dangerous enough that his team had been sent to deal with it quietly. Cleanly.

And Simon intended to do exactly that.

No distractions.

No memories.

No past.

The skull mask resting against his gear felt heavier the closer he got to familiar streets.

He hadn’t worn it yet. Not here. Not in the place where he used to just be Simon.

His boots slowed as he walked past the old park.

For a moment—just a moment—he could almost hear laughter echoing off the empty swings. Two kids racing each other down the hill, arguing about who cheated.

He shoved the memory down hard.

That life didn’t exist anymore.

Simon turned the corner, eyes scanning the quiet street automatically.

That was when he saw you.

You were standing under one of the dim streetlights, the glow spilling over the sidewalk. Maybe you’d just stepped out of a nearby building. Maybe you were heading home.

It didn’t matter.

What mattered was the way his body locked up the second he recognized you.

Years.

Years of distance.

And somehow he knew it was you instantly.

You hadn’t changed as much as the world probably should have allowed. Or maybe his mind just filled in the missing pieces with memories.

Either way, Simon suddenly felt like he’d stepped straight into the past.

You looked at him the same way anyone would look at a stranger lingering too long in the shadows.

Suspicious.

Curious.

He should’ve kept walking.

That would’ve been the smart thing to do.

Instead, his boots stayed planted to the pavement.

Your gaze studied him for a moment longer, brow faintly furrowed like something about him was familiar but you couldn’t quite place why.

Then your eyes drifted across his face.

Across the hardened lines.

The scars.

The quiet, watchful stillness of someone who had seen far too much.

And suddenly you stilled.

Simon saw the exact second recognition sparked.

His jaw tightened.

This wasn’t part of the plan.

You took a small step closer, uncertainty flickering across your expression as you searched his face again.

Like you were trying to find the boy he used to be hidden somewhere under the man standing in front of you.

For a moment neither of you spoke.

The night hummed quietly around you.

Then you said it.

“Simon.”

The name hit him like a bullet.

His shoulders stiffened instantly.

No one called him that anymore.

Not in years.

Not since he left this town and buried that version of himself somewhere deep enough that even he rarely looked for it.

Now there were only two names people used for him.

Riley.

Ghost.

But hearing that name again…

It felt wrong.

Too familiar. Foreign almost.

Too close to a past he wasn’t supposed to have anymore.

Simon’s eyes darkened slightly as he looked down at you.

For a moment, something unreadable flickered behind them.

Then his voice finally broke the silence—lower, rougher than you probably remembered.

“…You recognize me.”