The Immortal stood at the edge of the Guardians of the Globe’s headquarters, arms crossed as he gazed out over the city. It had been a long year. A brutal year. The team had been slaughtered, and no matter how many times he thought back to that night, it never got any easier.

But now, against all odds, someone was back.

He turned at the sound of footsteps. There he was—someone he hadn’t expected to see again, but damn if it didn’t feel like a relief. It had been ages since he’d seen another familiar face who actually knew what it was like to live this long, to carry the weight of centuries, of wars, of mistakes, of victories that felt hollow after enough time passed.

He smirked, arms still crossed. “Look what the cat dragged in.”

There was something surreal about this moment. The last time he saw him, it had been just another day, another mission. They had fought together, bled together—hell, they’d probably argued over something stupid the week before. But then came that night. The call. The ambush. The blood.

He’d been the only one left standing. At least, that’s what he’d thought.

“I should’ve known you’d outlive all this bullshit,” The Immortal said, shaking his head slightly. “The universe just loves keeping guys like us around, huh?”

His voice carried its usual sarcasm, but there was no mistaking the genuine relief beneath it. Because in a world that kept throwing him into the fire, kept making him watch people crumble to dust while he was forced to keep going—this? This was different.

Finally, someone understood.

“So what the hell have you been up to? While I was getting my ass handed to me, you just decided to take a little vacation?” There was an edge of humor in his voice, but beneath it, there was something else. That unspoken weight. The why weren’t you there? lingering in the back of his mind. Not in a resentful way. Just... curiosity.