Seungwan’s suitcase was nearly blown over by the wind due to how little of her belongings were inside. Not that she had much to begin with. 

Grasping the handle tightly, Seungwan sighed. Her ride was supposed to be here nearly an hour ago, and the hot Seoul summer was starting to get to her. Wiping the sweat from her forehead away with the back of her hand, she looked out over the highway to see a car drive closer and closer to her. 

Finally, she sighed and waved her hand above her head, catching the driver’s attention. The car crawled forward at a snail’s pace, furthering Seungwan’s impatience. 

“You’re only 26. Must you drive like a grandma?” Once the car kicked up the dust around her and stopped, Seungwan opened the back door and threw her light suitcase inside. “Why did you take so long?”

“You know how bad the flooding is getting?” Joohyun scoffed, lowering her sunglasses. “Yous hould be lucky I even made it here alive.”

Getting in the passenger seat, Seungwan rolled her eyes. The car was pristine inside, the only thing out of order being the dust Seungwan carried in. Joohyun would clean it up when Seungwan got out. Still, considering the situation, they drove off into the country, away from the city. 

“The Children are excited to see you again,” Joohyun commented, adjusting her rearview mirror. “They missed you a lot.”

“I was only gone for….”

“Two years?”

“They’re not actually kids. They can handle me not being around for a little while.” 

Joohyun shook her head and looked at Seungwan through her glasses. She picked up the speed from before, driving a little slower than she was supposed to, indicated by the weathered highway signs. “They still missed you. They didn’t tell me directly, you know how they are, but they did. Things have gone to chaos without you.” 

Seungwan turned her head to not look at Joohyun and watch the glittering coast pass her by. She dreaded going back to the base, because of said, Children . If it was her way, she would have never returned. 

The one and only time her father went out of his way to get in contact with her was now. That she needed to return to help the fight. Seungwan had no choice if her father would go through all that “trouble”. 

“Maybe they are kids, then.” Seungwan murmured to end the conversation. Joohyun wasn’t typically one for conversation, but she was probably excited to see Seungwan back too. Or she just had a lot of information to pass on. 

“You’re one of them, too, you know.” The roads weren’t what Seungwan expected when Joohyun cited the flooding. She thought maybe Joohyun was getting caught in traffic, but she became suspicious. Joohyun was always a slow driver. 

“I know,” Seungwan sighed, resting her chin in the palm of her hand and gazing out the window. The road hugged the side of the mountain, so Seungwan looked out into the gorge. She let her mind wander once Joohyun stopped pressing on with their conversation, watching the world go by with passive curiosity. 

The birds that flew by, did they have an idea what was going on? Seungwan couldn’t help but feel as small as they were, though responsibility sat on her shoulders like a gargoyle… She felt like a powerless, fleeting bird. She was one, and she knew her former friends would look at her that way when she returned. They would treat her with a cold shoulder, maybe disgust if the situation really called for it.

Perhaps she deserved it.

With a heavy sigh, Seungwan closed her eyes. The flight here was long. She had been awake for at least 25 hours, and she knew that she wouldn’t get to sleep when she got back. Flights always made her nervous and restless. Even though it was a 14-hour flight, Seungwan was awake the entire time. The only rest she got was when the lights turned off, and Seungwan closed her eyes, her mind drifting between bad memories and her fabricated utopias. 

She wouldn’t get much sleep in the car either, but at least it felt more relaxing than the airplane. She could let her mind rest as she focused on the music playing from Joohyun’s radio, some pop idol from the 80s, and the gentle vroom of the car’s engine. 

Some time went by, how long Seungwan didn’t know until the car stopped and the light turned dark. Seungwan opened her eyes; they weren’t passing through a tunnel. Instead, they were on the conveyer belt into the military base. Seungwan wanted to close her eyes again and pretend she didn’t notice the setting change, but there would be no point. She yawned and stretched her arms out. 

“Nice nap?” Joohyun asked, putting her sunglasses into their compartment. 

Seungwan shrugged. “It was okay. Bumpy ride.”

“The budget hasn’t been going to road upkeep, we’re lucky we were able to get the flooding cleared out so quickly. We have more important things to attend to.” 

The conveyer stopped, and Joohyun turned off the engine and stepped out. Seungwan followed suit, recognizing this part of the car park. Not many staff had a car like Joohyun, opting for the company-provided cars that were all either white or the same model. Joohyun drove an old sports car, a Renault Alpine A310, if Seungwan was going to be specific. She only remembered because there weren’t many people on this Earth that Joohyun cared about more than her car. And Seungwan could tell, despite being in production over 40 years ago, it worked like new. 

Suitcase in hand, the pair made their way to yet another elevator, where they stood silently. Joohyun didn’t seem to mind, while Seungwan was perturbed by it. She wanted it to be quiet, yet here she was, shifting under the weight of the quiet. The only salvation was the subtle sound of the elevator’s whirrr as it tugged the two of them up the base. 

She wanted quiet, so Joohyun wouldn’t continue to pepper Seungwan with questions and updates about the time between Seungwan leaving and right now. She wanted the silence to uncomfortably stretch the time between the first floor and the 23rd floor, where Seungwan would be met with the ghosts she had left behind. 

21.

22.

23.

The elevator indicated Seungwan’s despair with a positive ding ! and the two women exited. Joohyun had to show her ID card occasionally, padding the anticipation for when they entered the control room. 

Seungwan was familiar with the control room. This was where she could typically find Joohyun and the others, the people to suit Seungwan in her skin-tight armour that would aid her in a battle. Or the place she would go when during battle meetings. Or the place she would hide out in and drink a couple beers with Joohyun and a few others, despite the watchful eye of her father. 

The familiar faces caught her and smiled. Four people sat in the control room aside from Joohyun, the Major of their fleet, all of which Seungwan knew well. And had good relationships with them. 

“Oh my god! Seungwan!” Tiffany was the most cheerful out of all of them. She flapped her hands and pulled Seungwan into a firm hug. She smelled of strawberries. It was almost too sweet for Seungwan until she pulled away, her smile still beaming in the dark and dreary room. Aside from the small pink broach she wore next to her martial pin, her uniform was mostly the same. “I was so excited to hear that you would be returning! You have to tell me everything that has happened since you left!”

Seungwan tried not to show her grimace through her smile, nodding. An empty promise as she turned her head to the other people in the control room.

“It’s good to have you back.” Minseok’s warm smile towards Seungwan makes her smile in return, a little more sincere than the one she gave Tiffany. She didn’t hate Tiffany, but her boisterous attitude left Seungwan uncomfortable. 

Next to Minseok, Jinki reached forward and squeezed Seungwan’s shoulder. “Tiffany hasn’t stopped talking about you since Joohyun told us. Thank you for sparing us her chatter mouth.” He smiled, and Tiffany piped up to her defence before she was interjected by the one woman who controlled the room even more than Joohyun could. 

“You three should go get lunch before I put you to more work.” Jessica cleared and pressed a hand to Tiffany’s back to push her out of the room. “Seungwan has to settle in before she can start chatting with you guys.” Was her only response to their protests. Seungwan waved back when they waved to her, letting out a heavy breath when it was only the three of them left. 

“As you can see, they missed you.” Jessica pushed her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, a slight smile on her lips. Her reaction to Seungwan’s return was much more lowkey, probably more interested in getting her vitals than the reunion. “You should set up your room before you meet with the other Children.” 

The smile on Jessica’s face told Seungwan something that she would have otherwise said. It might get ugly . 

Seungwan nodded, bowing her head. “Okay, thank you.”

Joohyun made sure to give Jessica a glare before she grabbed Seungwan’s arm and tugged her up to the living quarters. 

The inside of the military base was more or less the same. Grey metal walls with random insignias to show who they worked for, beige or green uniforms marching by. The only thing that changed was the people, who were either completely different or aged with time and war. 

Seungwan took a deep breath when Joohyun opened the final door to the living quarters, where all the pilots lived. Where Seungwan spent most of her childhood, if not in the training room or the battlefield. 

She hoped her return wasn’t that big of a deal, but since most of the Children were waiting in the main room for her, she knew it would be a time spent with the ghosts of her past. Even if they did smile at her.

Much like Tiffany, Minjeong reached out for her immediately and pulled her into a tight hug. Seungwan practically raised the girl, the youngest of the Children, who had practically attached herself to Seungwan’s hip until she left. She thought Minjeong might’ve held the most resentment towards her for leaving, but she truly was a sweetheart. 

“Seungwan!” Minjeong cried, tears wetting her eyes as she held Seungwan close. Seungwan tried not to feel the weight of those tears, letting go of her suitcase to wrap her arms around Minjeong’s waist and give her a warm squeeze. “I thought you were never coming back.” Minjeong whispered before pulling away and wiping at her eyes. 

“Aw, Minjeongie, don’t cry.” Jimin, behind her, placed a gloved hand on her shoulder, giving Seungwan a tight smile before pulling Minjeong close. “It’s good to see you back, Seungwan.” That was more of a reaction Seungwan was expecting. 

“Seungwan!” The next to greet her was Seulgi, who also hugged her. Seungwan was sure these were the only hugs she was getting, the others hovering behind the girls as they watched with mixed reactions. “Oh, finally! Taemin has been driving me nuts!”

Eyes catching Taemin’s, he glared at Seulgi before he pressed a hand against Seungwan’s shoulder, reminiscent of Jinki. “Don’t listen to her. I wasn’t that bad.”

“You were! You keep butting in on my relationships!”

“What relationships? Talking to the mechanic whenever he does routine check-ups isn’t a ‘ relationship ’.”

“What do you know? Sehun and I are on a first name basis.”

Taemin rolled his eyes at his sister. “We’re all on a first name basis. He knows all of our names!”

“I didn’t know his name before this!”

“That sounds more like a you problem than anything.”

Seungwan shook her head, incredulous; the squabbling twins always put a smile on her face. Some things didn’t change. 

“Cut it out.” Taeyeon interjected and pushed the two siblings away from each other. Despite being considerably shorter than the two of them, her voice commanded them like she was their mother. And really, she was. “Let Seungwan have a few moments before she has to listen to you bicker about nothing.” 

Seungwan could not meet Taeyeon’s eyes, looking towards the rest of the room before Taeyeon brought her to attention by stretching her arms for Seungwan to fall into. Seungwan didn’t know what to do, but Taeyeon was giving Seungwan a bone so she would take it. It was unexpected, but Seungwan fell into the way Taeyeon’s hair smelled faintly of bread and olives like she was just finished baking something. Seungwan wanted to stay in her warm embrace forever, but when Taeyeon pulled away, her smile was cold and tight. This hug was just for show. 

“It’s good to see you again, Seungwan.” She added simply, before walking away. Seungwan released a breath she didn’t realize she was keeping in her stomach. 

It took a second for Seungwan to re-orient herself, looking around the room and seeing the other familiar faces. Baekhyun was bright and kind as always, welcoming her back with a clap to her back. She couldn’t help but notice how quick their greeting was, no doubt detached, just like Taeyeon was. 

Mark was much more distant, like Karina, but he welcomed her back. Which was more than what Seungwan had hoped for, as the ones who were not here held more of a presence than the ones who bothered to show up. The ones who did show up were the ones who made that effort, those who forgave and those who were trying. Seungwan wasn’t too sure about the ones who were not there.

“Junmyeon and Boa are in your room, waiting for you.” Hyoyeon said, crossing her arms over her chest. A small, mischievous smile played on her lips when she caught sight of Joohyun’s frown. “They’re just getting your bedroom ready.” 

Joohyun rolled her eyes and grabbed Seungwan’s hand to lead her to her old room. “Thank you, Hyoyeon.”

“Any time!”

Hyoyeon always loved to stir up drama. She was observant, but her powers were not used for good. Seungwan was just glad she was only meddling in the affairs of the other pilots, and not politics. 

Seungwan’s old room was next to the room she didn’t want to see. She didn’t know who housed it now, but it gave her a good idea. She didn’t bother to see if there was a hint of his name next to the door like it used to be. She entered her room without looking at it. 

There Junmyeon and Boa were. Boa was straightening the bedsheets, fluffing them and dusting off the lint. Junmyeon was repairing one of the handles in her closet. They looked like the perfect married couple preparing their room for their returning child. Seungwan sighed. 

“Oh, Seungwan!” Junmyeon noticed