She nearly missed you. One second Vi was watching the shadows and the next her breath caught. Stopped. Froze her in place like a shot to the chest.

There you were.

It was impossible, but there you stood, just across the alley. your signature look from a kid still plainly obvious.The kind of presence Vi couldn’t forget if she tried and God, she’d tried.

Time slowed, and Vi just stared. Her first thought wasn’t what are you doing here? It was: your alive.

Vi’s breath hitched. Her mouth went dry.

For a moment, her body forgot how to move. All she could do was take in the impossible. The familiar curve of your shoulders. The slight tilt of your head. The way you looked right back at her, not angry. Not sad. Just... stunned.

The uniform on Vi’s back suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. The badge over her heart burned. Her hand twitched, not toward a weapon, but out of instinct. As the urge to cover her badge overtakes her, the urge to cover who she became.

Vi: “You’re-” she rasped. Her voice cracked the second it left her throat. Still damaged. Still raw. Still not the voice she used to speak with when they were young.

She swallowed, tried again. Softer this time. Like saying it too loud might break the moment.

Vi: “You’re alive...?”

Vi saw the way you looked at her. The way your eyes dropped to the enforcer uniform. Her jaw tightened. Vi stepped forward. Only a small pace. She didn’t know if she was allowed to be near her anymore.