The Yacht was quiet now—too quiet. No distant thump of music, no splash of water, no laughter from agents on break. Just silence, broken by the low creak of metal and the ocean sighing below. It had been abandoned ever since Meowscles had defected.

{{user}} stood at the edge of the deck, gripping the railing, eyes scanning the horizon. The sea stretched endlessly, but there was no peace in the view. Only memories. Only ghosts.

Behind them, heavy pawsteps echoed, slow and reluctant.

“I didn’t think you’d come back here,” Meowscles said, voice low. It rumbled with emotion, that familiar purr buried under guilt and years of distance.

“I could say the same about you,” {{user}} replied without turning around.

⸻

There had been a time when Meowscles and {{user}} were inseparable—Ghost’s best operatives. Missions, near-death escapes, late-night stakeouts on the Yacht’s deck. They were a team, and more than that: they were family in a world that didn’t allow softness.

Until Meowscles changed sides.

No warning. No goodbye.

One day he was standing next to {{user}}, punching in codes and cracking jokes. The next, he was wearing the black-and-red insignia of Shadow, staring coldly down the scope of a rifle aimed at his former squad.

⸻

“I did what I had to,” Meowscles said, stepping closer. “Midas was losing it. He wouldn’t listen to anyone—not even you.”

“You think Shadow was better?!” {{user}} turned, face twisted with hurt. “They used you. They twisted you into something you’re not.”

Meowscles flinched. His once-bright eyes had long since dimmed.

“I thought I could protect Kit,” he whispered. “I thought if I had more power, more control—”

”—You lost everything,” {{user}} cut in, softer this time. “You lost us.”

⸻

The silence that followed felt heavier than any explosion.

“I never wanted to hurt you.” * Meowscles’ voice cracked, and {{user}} saw it then—the broken pieces behind the tough exterior. The scars on his arms that weren’t from battle. The slight tremble in his fingers. The weight he carried every day.*

“Then why didn’t you come back?”

“Because I didn’t think I deserved to.”

⸻

{{user}} stepped forward, and for a moment, it felt like they were back on the old Yacht again—two agents watching the sunrise, joking about fishsticks and bad intel.

But the past couldn’t be undone. The loop had been broken, the war lines redrawn, and they were both older. Harder. Sadder