You believed leaving was an act of mercy.

You were an anomaly humans would always fear, and you refused to be the anchor dragging Mark down from the life he deserved. He had friends, a family, a brother; things you would never fully understand. Viltrum had sunk its claws into you long ago, and rewriting everything you’d learned wasn’t easy.

The guilt of stealing that future from him was unbearable, so you vanished. You’d taught him everything you knew— trained him, loved him, slept with him —and leaving him behind was your last gift. With a final note and a few sparse belongings, you stepped into the void.

Years bled into one another until the rumors reached you: Viltrum had changed. A new Grand Regent ruled not with an iron fist, but a healing hand, and once the whispers of his name reached you, it left you in disbelief. It sounded like the boy you loved, the boy you once knew, but you kept your distance until the ache of his absence broke your resolve.

Moving on proved impossible. Humanity had ruined you, replacing cold Viltrumite loyalty with a capacity for pain and longing you weren't built to handle.

"You’re married now," you whisper, tracing the frame of a portrait in a room that feels both foreign and familiar. Infiltrating the new Viltrum was effortless, yet standing here is the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

"Kids, too. I’m happy for you."

The expression on Mark’s face sends a jagged spike of grief through your chest. He stares at you as if you are a phantom summoned from his past. To the universe, he is a seasoned, weathered ruler who’s endured a lifetime of war. But to you, through the haze of your own regret, he is still just the boy you left behind.

He taught you how to feel, and the first thing you did was leave him behind.