Mannie didn't let me hug her goodbye. I gave my best attempt, but she ducked away and waved me off. "You know." She said. We- Her, I, Michael and his family, and Alexander- were in the lobby of one of the luxury apartment condominiums.

"Not really."

She stared at the ground, blushing. "I just want to get this over with."

"I'll see you again." I said, like looking at her and Michael and Alexander would somehow ensure it. "Traveling's expensive."

Alexander cough and in a low voice said, "Hell has a lot more cash than you'd probably think."

"How much?" I asked.

Alexander coughed, and turned away.

"I don't know Blake." Mannie said, looking up and speaking in a higher voice than typical. "I mean, I might be back one day but... you know? I've been here in this city and in the town above, for a really long time. Go find a job and settle down."

"I don't really want to do that either." I said, my hand nervously resting on my neck. "But I guess I have the connections to get something good."

"Yeah!" She said weakly. "Do that. Don't worry about anything else. There's better people out there."

Michael loudly sighed.

"You've got to keep in touch somehow. Send letters to the orphanage."

"I'm not going to write letters."

"Send postcards."

"Blake. Do you think we're friends?"

"I mean, we're-" I stopped. Did I? Yes? I guess? She was the one who had imposed herself into my life. And over the last few months, I had met so many people and experienced so few constants that, well, I really had no idea.

"We're not friends." Mannie said. "No offense. I really really like you in the friendliest of terms, but you're not the same person I knew at first, and- I've been through this all before."

"I really like you too, Mannie. You're not a terrible person."

"But I'd like to be." She was having trouble fully meeting my gaze, instead staring a little to the left of me. Suddenly, she leapt forward and hugged me, though she only came up to my chest. I didn't have time to react before she broke the hug and backed off.

"See you." I said.

"Yeah."

She walked off, holding the hands of her childhood friends, only once glancing back at me.

I went to the roof, as it felt like an appropriate place to mope. Whoever programmed the weather had a good sense for setting a nearly inappropriate mood, and the sky was thick with fog and one blazingly clear rainbow.

It wasn't quite a fog but a mist, a thick cloud of moisture that I could actually feel on my skin. A heavy wind whipped my scarf dramatically behind me as I leaned over the penthouse balcony railing and down onto the city below. Occasio was probably going to kick me out of here soon, now that he was again in full power, but I was going to miss this feeling.

I felt like there was something else to do, something that needed sorting, or ordering. From somewhere below, smoke caught on my nostrils, and I squinted. Standing on this rooftop wasn't going to do much for me, no matter how fitting it felt. I had to be an adult now. Maybe get a job working with kids.

When we'd finally find out if the cycles had truly ended, I'd be forty-one. That was a lot of time.

A whole lot.

I might as well start getting ready now.

As I turned around, I realized someone was standing directly behind me. I jumped back in surprise, nearly toppling over the railing as I did so, my hands digging into the icy metal bar as I tried to calm my heart.

But then again, I don't think my heart was going to be calm for a while- he had grabbed my coat, and I stared at him.

"Jesus fuck. Are you okay?" Micky said.

Another ghost. Another half dazed hallucination. I was out of mind, again, and in all honestly that'd be sort of a relief, something for me to do again, another actual goal-

But no. Ghosts weren't real. He was.

I caught my breath and still nearly chocked. Then I hugged him in the only sort of way that mattered, the kind where you press forward and hold tight and everything happens in one dynamic action.

He smelled like rubble, but he was fine. Rubble, earth, and pine cones.

"I thought you were dead." I said.

"Oh." He said, his hand on the the back of his neck "Jeez."

"Like really. Seriously dead. It's been days."

"Yeah, I... know." Micky said. "I ran away. Ducked out the moment I could and left everyone to die. Again."

"Again?"

"When I was younger, I-"

"I know." I sighed, looking at him. My feelings had leveled out a bit. "I just mean, you know, I don't give a shit. You're a coward. And I am so fucking happy about it."

"Y-Yeah?"

"Yeah." I smiled.

"I did promise you I'd wouldn't die, right?" He ran a hand though his hair. "Is everything over then? The war? The revolution?"

"I doubt it. Not really the city for that kind of thing." Micky started to say something, but I interrupted."What time is it? Let's get lunch."

"I'm not really hungry."

"And I'm not really good at first date ideas. What else is there to do, watch a movie?"

"This is a date now?" Micky didn't seem all that flustered by the idea. I wasn't either.

"Do you want it to be?"

"I don't know," Micky said softly, possible the quietest I'd ever heard him speak. He seemed to be blushing, and had his head turned down like he was concerned there was a camera in the sky that might catch sight of his face. Knowing Hell, there probably was.

"Me neither. But whatever it is, let's go." I said, and I felt like shrugging, and thinking to myself something like 'what the hell am I doing'.

But I did not.

I took his hand, and you know-

This peace wouldn't last, this city had no future, and I didn't know what path my life was heading down, but I did know this: there were worse things in the world.