The others kept walking, surveying the area, looking around. Some stopped to look over in the horizon.

I looked too. I could see it. A plume of green smoke.

In the other direction, a crack had traveled directly skyward, like a lightning bolt had just… deleted what lay beneath it. A black scratch against the sky.

The others were being met by the Patrol. I saw a couple of familiar faces, but not the most familiar. People I’d sparred with, talked to, eaten with. Many were bringing boxes out of the buses.

“What’s up?” Capricorn asked.

We were more or less alone.

“How are you?” I asked. “I heard about Reconciliation. Are you okay?”

He sighed, then shook his head.

Heartbreak. The hope of a meeting with someone important from the past. Then hope being shattered.

“Anything I can do?”

“Do what you’re doing. Pick up the slack, look after the others. I’m not at my best, and neither is Byron, for very different reasons. I’m fit, I’m fine physically. He’s… well, I’ll let him tell you but I think he’s feeling pretty good about life, I think. Even with Titans and everything else.”

A bit of a trick answer there. We’re not doing great, here’s how we’re doing great. Fill in the blanks.

“It was a good catch, Lookout’s loophole,” I told him. To find something more encouraging.

“Thanks.”

“You’re doing a good job, Tristan.”

“I know.” There was no brag in his voice. “But that’s not all there is, is there? You ever read the horror stories? Stuff on Parahumans Online, about what happens when you lose your secret identity? Or that line of threads titled Porch Light?”

“I read some of the secret identity stuff,” I said. “Wasn’t really relevant to me, though.”

He smiled behind the head-cover.

“Why?” I asked. “Do you need to sit this one out?”

“I think that’d be worse,” he said. “I’m… feeling like all the bridges are burned right now. I know they take time to rebuild, really. It’s only been a couple of years.”

“For what it’s worth, you relationship with Byron is so much better than it was when I met you.”

“He’s not here right now,” Tristan said. “He’s better, but he’s not well. When I’m out, he’s napping. When he’s out, I’m aware.”

“One-sided.”

“I burned every bridge I had, in one stupid, split second decision I couldn’t take back. Byron did a lot of the rebuilding, to make his way back to me. Rebuild that tie. But he’s not there now.”

“No, I guess not,” I said. “But it’s better. I do think he loves you. Hold onto that.”