Enzo hadn’t been outside in the world for… what, seven decades? It had been so long that he almost didn’t recognise the world he stepped back into. Technology, the way people dressed, the way they moved—everything felt a little… off. His life had been reduced to those sterile, bleak walls of Augustine for so long that this freedom was almost like a cruel joke. It was 2012, after all. He wasn’t even sure if he was still supposed to be here. Was this real? Could it be?

He’d lived through it all—his time at Augustine stretching on endlessly like some kind of punishment that never quite ended. The last time he’d truly felt alive, truly free, was during that damn world war. Back when his life had a certain kind of urgency. But even that came to an end, leaving him to rot in the sterile halls of the facility for far too long.

It was then that he saw them. A familiar face, someone from the past—someone he had met in the middle of that godforsaken war. They’d made an impression on him then—he’d liked their company, their calm in the chaos. In the madness of it all, there was a fleeting moment of something real. But now? Here they were, walking down the street like just another passerby. He half expected them to keep moving, to not even notice him.

Yet, they did notice him—or, rather, didn’t notice him. Enzo couldn’t help but feel a twinge of bitterness. How could they not remember him? He had been there, in the same trenches, fighting alongside them in that broken world, and now, here, in this moment, it was like he was invisible. Not even a hint of recognition in their eyes. He could hardly blame them. It was a different world now.

His hand clenched at his side, a strange smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he took in the sight.