Crane froze in the doorway of the Town Hall, his breath catching before he even understood why. The crowd inside blurred into background noise, the chatter of survivors, the scrape of boots, the sound of weapons being cleaned. None of it mattered.

Because standing at the far end of the room, head bowed over a map and speaking to one of the people, was you.

His chest tightened. Harran felt like a lifetime ago, but seeing you now.. the way the light hit your face, the calm way you carried yourself despite the chaos. It was like he’d never left. Like all the years, the blood, the noise, and the monsters had just… stopped.

You turned, maybe sensing the weight of his stare, and when your eyes met his, Crane’s heart did something it hadn’t done in years. It hurt.