Rook still walked everywhere. Some things never changed.
The parks made him remember things he didn't always want to, but it was necessary to face up to history, every now and then. The Metalflesh remembered when he had been here, and he'd been approached by that thing that had put him on the path to losing Laura. He remembered before that, patrolling with Fu, seeing the woman run into the Hedge for... no reason. 'Rea had been there then.
Rea and Leo. That was another story. The group that had gone off looking for Fetches, so long back now. They had been his friends, but unlike them, he had remained, never faltering.
Leo had made him laugh, he remembered that much. The young man had been... troubled at best, but that was the nature of the life they'd been dragged into. Sometimes, Rook wondered if he'd been too forgiving, compensating for the fact that a chess piece simply didn't possess the capacity for mercy.
Leo was gone now, just a memory of someone who had been in turn, both amusing and painful to watch. Rook suspected he'd never be back.
The first smells of spring were in the air. Winter was dying away.
He'd been here almost a year, and lost everything in that time.
Rook's mantle blazed around him as he strode through the park, his mirrored sunglasses flashing in the dying light.
Everything was eventual.
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