Edsel spent most of the day trying to find his way back home.

Now with some money in his pockets and clothes on his back, he did not look as pitiful as before. At the very least, he was no longer mistaken for a deranged homeless man.

Before he began his arduous journey home, Edsel first stopped by at a nearby supermarket. The place he went to was actually part of a chain called Elias. Elias Supermarkets was the most prolific retail chain within the entire city and arguably within the entire nation. Even to this day, Edsel still remembered his trips there.

He tried washing himself inside the store’s restroom. Due to the lack of materials, he was left with no other choice but to use a messy combination of toilet paper and hand soap. While it wasn’t enough to completely get rid of the garbage scent, it did help decrease it. In conjunction with some deodorant that Edsel bought, the smell eventually reached a point where it was now barely noticeable.

The thug from before did not have a lot of cash. The money in his hands was barely enough to afford a subway pass. Deodorant was the only nonessential expense that he could afford to purchase. Otherwise, he would have bought more things, like soap or shampoo.

It was quite pitiful honestly. He almost felt as if he had robbed a pauper, and not some gangbuster in the midst of a kidnapping attempt.

Somewhat satisfied with this side quest, Edsel finally began the journey home.

If this had been ten years ago, then it would have probably taken him less than twenty minutes to get home. Unfortunately, Edsel had been gone for far too long. On his way there, he got lost numerous times.

He also lived within the Bedlam borough. Normally, you’d think getting home would be easier, but that was a common misconception. Harlock’s Bedlam was a large area, the largest of all four boroughs. In fact, it was larger than most cities across the country. Coupled with Edsel’s apparent ineptitude for directions, it took him practically all day to reach his old neighborhood.

By the time he arrived, the sun had already begun to set.

Edsel lived in a neighborhood called Queensville. It was actually quite similar to Hovel, except without all the gangsters, crumbling infrastructure, and crippling poverty. Really, other than those minuet differences, they were practically identical.

Queensville was a pretty peaceful place, at least by this city’s standards. It was like a quaint little corner of the world isolated from all the ruckus and hubbub of everyday life.

The neighborhood was dominated by low-rise buildings. Many of those buildings belonged to small family-owned businesses. Other than that one Elias located a few blocks down, the neighborhood was practically devoid of any outside influences.

The shimmering glow of the setting sun painted the neighborhood in a beautiful iridescent layer of golden orange.

Making his way down the wide streets and seeing all the people that occasionally passed him by, Edsel was overcome with a sense of heavy nostalgia.

Bits and pieces of memory flickered through his head. Most of them were blurry and vague, but some he remembered with an almost intimate clarity. For example, the flower shop down the street. Tilly’s… or was it Tally’s? Well, it was something like that.

It once belonged to his father’s friend. Every holiday, the old man would drop by and purchase a bouquet for his mother. It didn’t matter the event. Even during Edsel’s own birthdays, without fail, the old man would always come home during the afternoons with a handful of roses or tulips or whatever else in hand.

Truth be told, he was probably just looking for an excuse. His father was like that, a man who could never be honest with himself.

Then, there was the children’s park located smack dab in between a coffee shop and a pizzeria. It wasn’t a very impressive place. Most of the equipment was old, and the ground was all paved up. If you fell, then nine times out of ten, that meant a scraped knee or a broken ankle.

Edsel remembered going there as a child. His mother always accompanied him. She guided him through each and every individual piece of equipment. Like with all mothers, she was worried that he’d get hurt. Edsel liked to think that she was just overly protective, but there was a basis for her concerns. Even with all of her hawk-like vigilance, he still somehow managed to injure himself. The worst of the injuries was a chipped tooth. He had to get braces afterwards, of which lasted for more than two years.

Edsel softly smiled.

If he closed his eyes right now, he could almost picture the familiar route home.

A part of him wanted to explore each and every place that came to mind. He wanted to relieve his memories, live out the days that he had lost. Despite his inner desires, he managed to restrain himself. Right now, he wanted to go home. His desire to go home far outstripped any other.

After walking down a row of small shops, Edsel turned a corner. He arrived at a small suburban area. In a city where concrete and metal made up the majority of the infrastructure, seeing an actual lawn with grass and shrubs was definitely an unusual sight.

Harlock was a busy city. It was known as the Golden Egg of the world, where business and leisure merged into one. In a place like this, suburban styled-homes were a rarity. Fortunately, Queensville just so happened to be one of the few neighborhoods with said rarity.

He walked for a few minutes, turning a few corners every now and then, before he arrived at a house with beige-colored bricks.

Edsel’s eyes almost glazed over.

This was it. This was the place. His old house.

“…”

He took a deep breath. Various thoughts and concerns buzzed through his head.

What would his parents think? How would his sister react? Ten years… he’s been gone for ten years.

What would they all say? Would they scold him? Curse him?

His sister… she was fifteen when he disappeared. After ten years, she should be twenty-five by now. At that age, she’s probably no longer even living at home anymore. What would she think?

After what felt like forever, he finally mustered up his courage and knocked on the door.

“…”

Nobody answered.

Edsel frowned. Did they move? It certainly wasn’t an impossibility.

He hesitated for a moment before he tried the doorknob. To his surprise, he heard a faint click.

It was unlocked. Edsel lightly pushed against the wooden frame. The door swung open, revealing an empty hallway devoid of life.

The first thing he noticed were the pictures hanging on the walls. They featured the entire family dressed in a wide variety of outfits. From swimwear to stuffy down jackets, the pictures documented all the vacations that they had ever taken together.

The last picture on the wall was a Holiday photo. The entire family wore color-coded ugly sweaters. His mother had a pair of antler ears on her head, while her sister’s nose was colored red.

It was the last picture that they had taken together. Nothing else came after.

“It’s like nothing’s changed…”

A bitter chuckle leaked out from his lips.

He shook his head and entered the house.

The lights were all off. Edsel tried the switch but unfortunately, it did not work. Edsel did not concern himself too much with it. The setting sun provided enough illumination, although as an unintended side effect, it did dye the whole house orange.

He slowly walked deeper into the house. The first room he arrived at was the living room. He tried the lights here too. Just like the ones in the hallway, they did not work either. Next, he moved to the kitchen. Again, he tried the lights and again, they did not work. What’s more, the water wasn’t running either.

He checked the refrigerator; the whole thing was empty.

Edsel felt an odd sense of peculiarity.

The house had neither electricity nor running water. What exactly was going on here?

Aside from that, the whole place looked exactly as how he had left it. From the pictures on the wall to the placement of the furniture, everything was nearly identical to the faint memory stored away in his head.

If there was one thing that’s different, then it would be the fact that there was nobody here to welcome him home.

Did they really move? Edsel mulled it over for a few seconds before he shook his head.

In truth, he did not know whether they left the house, but one thing was clear, this place was not as abandoned as it first appeared. After all, Edsel had noticed this a long time ago, but there was no dust anywhere on the walls or furniture.

Then, are they away? Did they rent this place out to other people? That shouldn’t be it either. It doesn’t explain the lack of water or the empty fridge.

The more he thought about it, the more peculiar the situation seemed to get.

He explored the entire first floor of the house. He even entered his parent’s bedroom. Again, everything was empty; not a single soul in sight.

After a few minutes, he eventually walked upstairs.

Not including the bathrooms, the second floor had three rooms in total. His bedroom, his sister’s bedroom and a home office that his father sparsely used.

The nearest room was his sister’s bedroom.

When he stepped into the room, the first thing he noticed were the walls. A light blue reminiscent of the distant sky. With the light of the sun seeping in from the windows, it felt almost as if he was standing amidst a cerulean sea.

There were no posters on the wall or stuffed teddy bears at the end of the bed frame. In fact, the room lacked decoration. Instead, it had a functional design, complete with a bookshelf, a nightstand, and a writing desk. Some might even go as far as to call it plain, but that was alright. Her sister was fond of simplicity, something that they had in common.

Edsel noticed that the room remained relatively unchanged. Of course, there were minor differences here and there. For example, the bedsheets were different and the books on her shelf had changed, but all in all, it was nearly identical to the past.

He slowly roamed around the room. He narrowed his eyes, an ambiguous smile etched to his lips.

On her nightstand, he caught sight of a picture frame. It was a photo of two people; a boy and a girl. The boy was slightly older, maybe about sixteen. He had messy black hair and a somewhat thin frame. The girl, on the other hand, looked to be around fourteen. She had bright eyes and a lively smile. Her hazel brown hair was styled into a pair of loosely braided ponytails that fell all the way down to her collar bone.

She took after her mother. They had the same small-nose and almond-shaped eyes. In comparison, the boy took after his father. The hard stare and creased brows were a dead giveaway.

The two people in the photo looked world’s apart, but that was alright. It never really bothered him growing up. Rather, he had learned to ignore the differences.

Naturally, the boy in the picture was him. By extension, the girl was his sister.

It was a photograph taken a long time ago. Edsel did not remember when or where exactly, just that… the people within the picture looked happy.

“…”

Edsel stayed in the room for what felt like a long time.

Eventually, he reached a conclusion; the room did not smell like anything.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. If anything, it possessed a somewhat flowery scent, reminiscent of laundry detergent. Edsel felt disappointed. It had been so long, that he had already forgotten what his sister smelled like.

It was a weird thing to take note of, but Edsel paid particular attention to a person’s scent. He felt that the way someone smelled was just as good of an indicator as their appearance.

Although he had long forgotten what his sister used to smell like, he was certain that if given the chance, he would instantly recognize it.

Unfortunately, he never got that chance.

Shortly after, he left the bedroom.

Next, he visited his father’s old office. Like the others before it, it too was empty. To be honest, Edsel did not really have a lot of memories of this place. It largely went unused, even by his father. He did not stay for very long. After a quick once over, he moved on to his next destination.

Finally, he arrived in front of his old bedroom. Edsel gripped the cold surface of the doorknob.

Right now, he felt conflicted. As a teenager growing up, he spent a majority of his free-time inside this very room. Even when you factor out all the hours he spent asleep, a large chunk of his adolescence still went into this room.

From the start, Edsel was a homebody. He much preferred spending afternoons playing videogames than doing other things like sports or getting an actual life.

Edsel did not regret his childhood. In fact, some parts of it he liked. The reason for his hesitation stemmed not from newly unearthed regrets, but rather…

To be honest, he did not hold very high hopes. He expected the room to be just as empty as everything else within this house. In the first place, he did not even know what he wanted to see. Should he be happy that nothing had changed or sad that everything else had stagnated?

He did not know.

After a long bout of hesitation, Edsel steeled himself. He took a deep breath, turned the knob and pushed open the door.

A faint creak reverberated throughout the air.

Edsel stood by the doorway. Just as he was about to take a step in, he suddenly froze. His body turned stiff and rigid, while his eyes were peeled wide open.

A look of surprise flashed through his face. His gaze immediately drifted to his old twin-sized mattress.

The room was not as empty as he initially expected. In fact, there was something, someone in his old childhood bed.

A squatter? This was Edsel’s immediate reaction.

He hesitated for a moment before he cautiously approached the bedside. His hand rested on the handle of the pistol that he had tucked underneath his waistline. As he drew nearer, he quickly noticed the figure lying underneath all the blankets.

It was distinctly female in form. This was apparent due to the curves and contours on the blanket.

Just as he was about to reach over and unmask the culprit, the bed suddenly rustled.

By instinct, Edsel quickly shuffled backward.

He watched as the figure slowly sat up.

She let out a soft yawn and slowly rubbed her eyes. A trail of saliva dotted the corners of her lips. Her hazy gaze drifted all throughout the room before they landed on him.

For a moment, they locked eyes.

“Ah… Ed, welcome home…” Her words were slurred, while an inattentive smile floated to her face. It was clearly evident, but this girl was still half asleep.

“…”

Edsel did not immediately respond. He continued to wordlessly stare at her. At some point, the hand holding the gun had quietly dropped to his side.

After ten seconds of silence, the girl’s eyes suddenly widened. She instinctively grabbed onto the blanket and covered the front portion of her body. Her current expression looked similar to that of a frightened owl’s.

“Edsel!? When? What, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Edsel bitterly laughed.

As it turned out, the squatter was someone he knew quite well.

Addison Temple. His one and only childhood friend.

****

When Edsel first appeared in the bedroom, Addison was understandably quite shocked. So much so that she initially believed that he was nothing more than a figment of imagination and that all of this was just some sick, twisted dream.

She pinched herself over and over. The amount of self-harm she committed within the span of a single minute was honestly quite alarming. Eventually, after her left cheek had turned completely crimson, Addison was forced to resign herself to the reality in front of her.

Edsel watched all of this with a somewhat weary expression.

“You believe now, right?” He asked with raised brows. Her disheveled appearance brought on a slew of memories, but now wasn’t really the appropriate time to mention any of them.

“Nn.” She meekly nodded her head. Underneath the dim light of the setting sun, crystalline drops welled up in the corners of her eyes.

After that came the touching reunion.

She practically jumped into his chest.

Addison rested her head on the nook of his shoulder. Her arms tightly wrapped around his torso, almost as if she was afraid that he would vanish the moment she let go. She sniffled, hot tears flowed down her face and stained the cuff of his T-shirt.

Edsel breathed out a soft sigh. He reciprocated as best as he knew how.

He patted her back and slightly rocked his body back and forth. He felt the chaotic rhythms of her beating heart.

“Come on, it’s alright, it’s alright. I’m back, aren’t I?” He quietly whispered in her ears.

Unfortunately, instead of calming her down, that only seemed to set her off. Her subdued sniveling transformed into full-blown sobbing.

Normally, Addison wasn’t usually this emotionally unstable, but the moment the dam within her so much as loosens, then the waterworks immediately come out to play.

For what felt like a long time, the bedroom was filled with the sound of her unrestrained crying.

Eventually, Addison’s tears petered out. Edsel’s entire shoulder felt moist and slightly uncomfortable, but he did not dare to mention it. Saying something now would only ruin the moment.

Fortunately, Addison did not share his same concerns.

“You kind of smell…” she muttered through his shirt.

“Er, that’s…”

Edsel felt a pang of guilt. He had completely forgotten to mention the fact that he had taken a rather intimate swim with a dumpster earlier today. What’s more, there was also the matter concerning his T-shirt. This shirt was not his. It belonged to a gangster who may or may not have been a chain smoker.

Just by coming into contact with him alone, Addison now probably needed a hot shower, maybe even several.

He separated from her.

Addison was reluctant to do so, but the guilt inside was eating him up. Edsel took a step back. After a moment’s hesitation, she did the same. The two simply stared at each other for what felt like forever.

“You… you look exactly how I’d imagine you’d look.” She eventually stated with a soft, slightly goofy smile.

Edsel subconsciously raised his brow. Was that an insult? For the record, he thought he looked pretty decent for a twenty-seven-year-old. In fact, he kind of stopped aging by the time he turned twenty. At least, that’s what he liked to tell himself.

By this point, Edsel stopped dissecting her innocent comment and focused his attention back onto his long-time childhood friend.

Addison also looked pretty good for her age.

In the first place, twenty-seven wasn’t really all that old, but she really did look like a girl who had just turned twenty. Compared to the past, the little girl from his memories had matured in all the right places.

Her hips flared out in that special way that could make a man go crazy, while her breasts had probably grown two cup-sizes since high school… not that Edsel kept track or anything.

The only thing that had stayed the same was her haircut. Black hair cut just below her chin. It was slightly messy in this disheveled kind of way, yet not too messy where anyone would notice. If left unmaintained, her bangs would cover up almost her entire face. She liked it that way, since it helped to hide the freckles on her nose and cheeks.

Edsel didn’t really mind the freckles. In fact, he thought they looked cute. Of course, back then, he never had the courage to say those words.

He let out a cough. “You could use a little bit of work yourself.” Edsel offhandedly stated. Even now, he lacked the confidence to straightforwardly compliment her appearance. It wasn’t a matter of maturity, but rather… he had grown up saying this type of stuff to her. Changing it now seemed a bit… awkward? Unnecessary? Dramatic?

… Alright, maybe he was just acting bit cowardly.

Normally, saying stuff like that to a girl would lead to a smack to the cheek and/or a beverage to the face. Addison did not do any of those things. Instead of anger, she laughed. “So, you’re still saying shit like that?”

“I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t.” He replied back with a smile.

“… You really are back, huh?”

“The one and only. It took a hell of a lot of effort to get back here though.”

Addison frowned. His words revealed a small fraction of the circumstances that had led to Edsel’s disappearance. Before she could broach the topic though, Edsel suddenly asked a question.

“You stopped wearing glasses.” He pointed out as he stared straight into her emerald green eyes.

“Glasses?” For a moment, she tilted her head before a look of realization dawned on her. “Ah, no. I was s-sleeping just now, so I didn’t wear them, but I did change my pair…”

She reached over towards his old nightstand. Addison grabbed a pair of black rimless glasses. It certainly was different from the chunky, circular pair that she used to own.

She gingerly put on her glasses and looked up at him. “There, I can see you a lot clearer this way.”

“Do I look better or worse in HD?” he couldn’t help but ask.

For a moment, she paused. Then, with a cheeky grin, she stated, “Worse. Definitely a lot worse.”

Edsel opened his mouth to say something. He racked his mind for a witty comeback, but after a while, he simply nodded his head. “I won’t argue with you there.”

****

The two laid on the bed together, their feet dangling from the side. At some point, the sun had completely dipped beneath the horizon. Soft moonlight flooded the bedroom.

Edsel kept his gaze fixated on the ceiling. Under the dimness of night, two half-centimeter wide holes lifelessly stared back at him.

He suddenly recalled something from his childhood. The holes in the ceiling, they were a result of a game gone too far. Edsel was a bit blurry on the details, but it had involved him, Addison, and his sister.

They wanted to see who could chuck a pencil hard enough to the point where it pierced the ceiling. The left hole was Edsel’s attempt, while the right was Addison’s. Back then, his sister was two years younger than them, so she naturally failed the game. When you’re an adult, two years doesn’t seem all that much, but as a child, it was a hurdle nearly impossible to breakthrough.

Edsel reminisced in the memory.

“…”

In the midst of his reverie, Addison snapped him back to reality. She suddenly asked, “When did you get back?”

“Just today.” He responded.

“I see…” Addison lapsed into a brief silence. She wanted to ask about what had happened and where he had gone, but a part of her hesitated. Finally, after nearly five minutes of nothing, she simply stated.

“You’ve been gone for three years.”

Edsel nearly jumped to his feet.

Three years? Was it really that short?

In retrospect, three years did not seem all that farfetched. Generally, time flowed differently between different planar realities. Regalia and Plume were the same. Time on Plume flowed significantly slower than on Regalia, thus resulting in the time difference today.

The only thing Edsel did not know of was whether or not he was still ten years older, or if his body had regressed back to when he was still twenty-years-old. A person’s personal time was intrinsically linked to the time of their original reality.

It explained why Edsel never aged whenever he visited no-man realms, where time did not flow at all.

Since he originally belonged to Plume, naturally his personal time would be affected by the time flow of this world.

“Three years…” He went missing when he was seventeen. If that much time had passed, then Edsel should be a little over twenty-years-old by now.

Now that I think about it, I never really did get the chance to check the current date.

“What is it?” Addison noticed something peculiar with Edsel’s silence. She turned her head and looked at him.

She did not notice much. The moonlight was just barely enough to illuminate the outlines of his face. The only thing she knew for certain was the fact that he had grown out his hair. It was about an inch longer than before, and considerably messier.

“No, it just… I thought it was longer…” Edsel’s response drifted to Addison’s ears, snapping her back to reality.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, it did feel longer. So much has changed, so much has happened, but you… at least you’re finally back.”

“…” Edsel could only nod his head.

A part of him believed that he would never come back. Being here, lying on his old childhood bed, talking to his childhood best friend, it felt like a dream.

He suddenly recalled something. Edsel turned towards her and asked, “more importantly, why are you here?”

Addison, who was certainly not family, was actually sleeping in his bedroom inside his house. Edsel really couldn’t understand this situation.

“I, I…” Her face suddenly flushed red. “I, I took it upon myself to clean and take care of your house! You should be thanking me!”

Edsel’s gaze landed on his bed. With the sheets haphazardly scattered like that, it was a bit difficult to believe a single word she said.

He raised a brow. “I see you took care of my bed too, huh?”

“I got tired, alright! Enough with your judgmental eyes.” She practically shouted at him.

After a while, she let out a sigh. “I… I sometimes come here to relax. Although the power’s been cut and there’s no running water, it isn’t that bad. This place is especially nice during the spring.” She paused for a moment. “I really was telling the truth about cleaning though.”

A whimsical expression floated to her face. Addison returned back to her childhood and recollected all the times she had slept over at Edsel’s house. Of course, by the time she entered middle school, their innocent sleepovers came to an abrupt end, but their time together had left a permanent mark in her heart.

Edsel nodded his head in response. While he did not push the topic any further, he still held some doubts.

Still, why would she need to take care of the house? Was it something that his parents had asked her to do?

Their families were close, so something like that was not surprising.

He couldn’t help but ask, “So, where are they now?”

“What?” she tilted her head in confusion.

“My parents. That brat too. I can tell that they aren’t living here anymore, so they must have moved, right?” He paused for a moment. “Shirley too. She should be eighteen by now. I blink and she’s already in her last year of high school… no, did she graduate already? What season is it right now? What do you think—”

Edsel abruptly stopped talking. He felt a certain chill crawl up his spine. For quite some time now, Addison had been uncharacteristically silent.

He looked over. Her expression was… odd. He couldn’t quite tell what sort of emotions were scribbled on that face of hers, but one thing was certain: it wasn’t anything good.

A pit dropped in his stomach.

“Addy, Addison, what’s wrong?” his words came out in a hoarse whisper.

“You don’t know…” she mumbled out, almost entirely to herself.

Her vague response only further heightened his worry. Edsel suddenly stood up. He practically glared at her. “Tell me. What happened?”

Addison hesitated. Eventually, she also stood up. She reached out for his hand. Edsel did not stop her. He recognized this.

It was a long-standing habit of hers. Whenever she felt guilt, anxious, concerned, basically anything that even vaguely resembled negative emotion, she had a habit of holding his hand. It was sort of like a plea for help, an attempt at dissipating the negativity between two people.

This time, she did not do it for herself, but rather, for him.

Addison stared up at him with solemn eyes. After what felt like an eternity, she spoke, “Edsel, your parents are dead.”

Those simple words reverberated loudly in his ears like sonorous church bells.