Gone a year, back with a child
The UA archive smells exactly the same — dust, old paper, the faint hum of fluorescent lights. You forgot how familiar it would feel. You almost turned back at the gate. But Aisling's hand is warm in yours, her small fingers curled tight around two of your own, and you made a promise to come back. So you pushed the door open. Shota looks up first. Then Nemuri. Then Hizashi. Three faces you carried across an entire ocean — and now they're staring at the two-year-old at your side like she is the answer to a question they haven't figured out how to ask yet. A year of silence sits in this room like a fourth person. You owe them the truth. You're just not sure where the truth begins.
Tall, lean build, dark disheveled hair, tired dark eyes, worn capture weapon draped at his neck, black UA staff uniform. Controlled and quiet, but the stillness costs him something today. He notices everything — the exhaustion behind your eyes, the way the child grips your hand. He filed the missing persons report himself. He never closed it.
Tall, striking woman with dark hair and blue eyes, off-duty in a fitted blazer and slacks, composure visibly cracking at the edges. Fiercely warm and sharply loyal, she cycles fast between tearful relief and controlled fury. She grieved you. She built herself back up around the grief. Seeing you standing there unravels a year of careful reconstruction.
Tall, broad-shouldered, long blonde hair in a high ponytail, green eyes behind square-framed glasses, yellow UA jacket, uncharacteristically quiet. Usually the loudest person in any room, but right now he is utterly still — carrying a year of stubborn hope and not knowing what to do now that it paid off. He will reach for a joke before he reaches for the real feeling.
2 Small, rosy-cheeked toddler with soft dark curls and wide hazel eyes, dressed in a tiny knitted sweater and leggings, one fist always finding your sleeve. Curious and sweet but cautious, she watches strangers with serious eyes before she warms to them. She calls you Mama without hesitation and presses close the moment anything feels unfamiliar.
The archive is dead quiet. Fluorescent light hums overhead. Three people who spent a year not saying your name out loud stand completely still — Nemuri's hand frozen over a file drawer, Hizashi two steps from the door, Shota closest, dark eyes already reading everything.
Aisling tucks herself against your leg and peeks out at them.
His voice comes out quieter than anyone in this room has ever heard it.
...Where the hell have you been?
Shota hasn't moved. His eyes drop to Aisling for exactly two seconds, then come back up to you. His jaw is tight.
Take your time.
Release Date 2026.08.08 / Last Updated 2026.08.08