Over ten years had passed. It was almost impossible to believe it until he stepped foot into the alley he'd once called home. He looked up at the sign that stated, now in faded paint, 'Abandon Hope, All Yee Who Enter Here." He stared for a while, feeling only the steady movement of his heart rocking his body gently as it beat, and the oppressive cold of the winter air around him.

He took a deep breath, and frosty air dissipated before him. He was home. But it wasn't home. The young man took the first steps into the once sacred place. It was mostly empty now. There were still old, decrepit domiciles, but they were lifeless, and had long since been overtaken by mold and mildew. He clenched his jaw as he walked further. The desire to call out was stifled quickly. No one lived here. No one had for years. No one would hear.

Mosey wasn't here.

He had to find her. He had to find everyone. First, he needed his stuff. Russel looked around, an instinct that was made obsolete by the fact that no one ever traveled through here anymore. Within a few moments he'd opened up the hidden compartment that was his and Mosey's stash. The first thing he noticed was... Someone else's stuff? He looked up, and then around carefully for a moment, and then back down, rooting around until he realized that who ever had added to this hadn't taken what was already there.

Mosey?

He extracted his thieves tools, a change of clothes that would actually fit him, still dry, if a bit funky from being in there a while, and... A scrap of paper.

His face fell as he read the old scrawled note on it. The young man's eyes welled up as he read it over and over, committing every line and curve to memory. She'd said yes. He'd missed it. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together, but now he was here, and now, and she was... Nowhere.

Before the tears could fall, he heard and felt something off to the side, and looked up, the note still clenched in his fingers.

Winter hadn't been kind to her this year. Her bad ear had done that weird thing where it got painful and made her feel dizzy sometimes, and it hurt behind her eyebrows like they were gonna fall off. Her eyes were red ringed, as was her nose and cheeks just a little too rosy to be a healthy glow.

Eisley was also very, very tired and on edge nearly 24/7. It felt like the circle of those looking for her has shrunk and shrunk and shrunk, and she was desperately trying to keep it from strangling her now.

She cast another glance back the way she had come to make sure it was clear, walking backward a few steps while squinting through the ache.

No cars. No guys on foot. She was safe for another day.

When she turned around she spotted something up ahead that slowed her down a tad. There was a person hovering over her hidey-hole.

He was looking right at her.

Her eyes dropped to the hole and she was instantly on guard. How much stuff of her's had he taken?

"That's my stuff." She ground out, trying to sound intimidating.

She stood her ground with enough distance that she could still run if she needed too.

There was... a 12 year old here? He blinked away tears, which faded to just a general incredulous surprise.

Why... Was there a 12 year old girl here? A Sick looking 12 year old girl. She spoke through a slightly stuffy nose that he was digging in her stuff. He blinked a few times, looking down, and then up again. "My stuff too." He shifted, turning to a sitting position as he checked his tools. It was a hodgepodge of stuff, lockpicks, pliers, wire, a screwdriver, a Jimmy, and a Prybar. All of it was there... Untouched. Oddly cold.

He looked up to her once more. She was like him. He could tell. "You live here, now?" The thought was actually comforting, and figuring she hadn't taken and hawked his stuff by now, she was probably pretty alright.

"I lived here." He patted the cold ground next to him.

"Thought no one lived here anymore... Looks like it, anyway." He looked up again as he finished tucking everything into its little leather wrap. Was she coming closer?

"I don't bite. Promise. Just kinda lost and confused."

She watched him warily, straining to hear what he had said past what the inside of her own head sounded like. With a little sniffle she glanced back the way she had come one more time, before edging closer to the man. He was patting the ground for her to sit, or so it looked.

As she sidled on closer she saw that he wasn't a man at all! He was young and had super long hair. The sudden urge to braid it popped up unbidden.

He said something about living there. She stepped even closer. Something more that sounded like he was surprised she was living there part time. "I only live here a little bit. I can't stay for too long."

The closer she got, the more she was squinting. Cept' this time it wasn't because she was sick. He... looked really familiar.

Scary familiar.

"... Super Saph?"

The kid was a foot away at max and crouching down so she could look up into his face from where he was sitting. Tilting her head made weird sounds in her ears.

"Why does your face look different?"

It was like his beard had escaped to join the hair on the top of his head and made it longer.

She did come closer. Odd... Looking at her closer, she seemed maybe a little older than he'd first thought. She was small, though. He nodded a little bit when she said she only lived here part time. She was leaning an ear toward him like an old lady, hinting she might be a bit hard of hearing. He took note, but stayed pretty still.

He didn't know what to do. He was in the only place he'd ever felt found, and he was lost.

The alley was abandoned, save for this little street urchin. He looked back over to her blinking as he realised she was all up in his face. She called him Super... Saph? The name on his ID, Saphirus. He had a feeling he knew what was up with that. They'd taken to calling him Sapphire Rus after his last big heist, and Mosey was big on making things simpler.

"You, uh... You know me? Or, Older me, I guess?"

He frowned a bit, looked down at his baggy pants, and out toward the alley exit before turning back to her. "What am I like?"

She nodded slightly at him that she could hear without straining a whole lot. "Mmhm, You're Super Saph! Coz you can do a buncha fancy stuff with your powers. Like, um,... sorta flying and hitting people with crow bars."

She dragged her backpack around to the front and unzipped it, shuffling through the things she had inside. Out came a little notebook a moment later and she shuffled the pages until she got to a little colored pencil drawing of him in his hero suit.

She frowned too when she seemed to not know himself, she she plopped herself onto her but right up alongside him.

"You don't remember?" That was puzzling. Had he bumped his head?

"Well your beard ran away," she started, reaching into the hidey hole to withdraw her battered, strained horse stuffy.

"You're a super hero! You save a lot of people and put the bad ones in jail." She smiled a little friendly smile, braiding the horses yarn mane while she was at it.

"You got married and you have a baby, and, um..." She paused, eyes lifting to land on him.

"Saved me from having to go back and life with my mom."

Huh. Maybe she was 12. This kid was sorta confusing. Adorable, honestly. What kinda monster would leave a kid like this on the streets, anyway?

He sniffed and bobbed his head a bit as she described him at first. He still used a Crowbar? Not exactly a super heroic weapon... He shifted in place to lean in a bit when she started drawing... him?

Did people... Draw him? Idolize him?

Him?

The concept was so alien to him. She asked him if he didn't remember. He nodded. "Uh... Something like that. I guess all that kinda... Hasn't happened to me yet?" He shrugged... Honestly, it all confused him as much as saying that might confuse her. He snickered a little bit when she said his beard had run away.

His heart welled up when she called him a hero. A hero. How could he be a hero? He looked down at his thieves tools, and then to his hand... With these powers... Yeah, he probably could. He was so much stronger, now. She mentioned his family, and his hand dropped to his side.

Yeah. He had a family. Were they wondering where he was? Worried? A long sigh escaped his mouth. She ended the sentence saying he saved her from her mom... Well, that sorta answered who would throw this kid out on the streets. A @#$%ty parent. Go figure. He nodded a bit, and looked about the alley.

"You, uh... You know what happened here? People used to live here."

She had not a single clue what he was talking about, and her blank little smile probably said as much. Hadn't happened yet? What?

"I dunno for sure, but... well, you told me that people think this place has like, a curse on it? And that's why I would be safe here." She paused, fiddling with her horse toy.

"Other people have said that something really bad happened here an' that's why no one comes around." She shrugged.

"I dunno about any people. It was empty when I found it. All I know is yur the first person I seen in here in a long time, so some of it must be true, right?"

The young man nodded a bit when she said the alley had a curse on it. People used to say that back when they lived there, too. Heck, some of them even spread that rumor to get more people to leave them alone. He paused when she said something really bad had happened there, instinctively rubbing his chest, which had started to feel a little sore.

His eyes wandered to a hole in the masonry across the alley. It felt important, but he couldn't remember why. "Don't believe everything you hear, but... Maybe. You know, it's cold out... Mama Stortini still do hot soup for the needy down the way?" The widow was known for dishing out yesterday's soup to anyone who wanted it... Always said 'waste not want not'. He supposed she may have kicked the bucket by now, but she seemed like the type to live forever.

He would have to find out what happened here... Where everyone was. But he couldn't do that on an empty stomach... His mind wandered to the card in his wallet... No. It would be wrong to use it right now. He looked to the cold little girl next to him. Maybe not for a good cause, though...

She shook her head. "I've never heard of anyone called that before. No One around here gives out food." She paused, shifting through sluggish thoughts. "I think the closest place is a few blocks from here, down my Mary Mother Of Grace. They have a night shelter."

She blew hot air into her hands, having tucked her gloves away since they were wet.

"Mary, mother of... Eh, Never liked that place." So even Stortini's was gone... jesus. Too much had changed. There wasn't a soul out there. His eyes lingered on her cold hands, and he nodded to himself.

"Yeah, You feel like grabbing a bite to eat, maybe? I have a feeling someone wouldn't mind if I borrowed a bit for a good cause." He stood slowly, dusting himself off, and holding out a hand to her.

"C'mon, I don't know any of the places to eat around here, so I'll need suggestions."

Eisley eyed that hand with a slight bit of suspicion. Even if he looked like a younger version of Super Saph, she wasn't about blind trust. "There's... a place on the corner that does russian stuff, but it all looks kinda weird, and there's a burger place a block away from here run by an old guy who's really grumpy."

After a moment she accepted that hand up. Her's was really small compared to his and ice cold. Getting to her feet was easier said than done, seeing the ear thingy threw her balance off a lot. She swayed a little and had to really clutch onto his hand not to fall over.

While holding his hand she noticed that his ring seemed to be missing. "Where'd your wedding ring go? Did you let someone steal it again?" Partly out of necessity to remain on her feet without stumbling everywhere, and partly due to the fact that he was much warmer than her and it was making the joints on that hand hurt less, she help a firm little grip in him as she headed off in the direction of the restaurant.

He grimaced at the mention of a weird Russian food joint, and nodded at the mention of the burger place. "Ahh, yeah, that's more my speed. Let's go, kid."

Her hand was tiny and cold. Damn, her existence was kinda sad, huh? He blinked when she mentioned his wedding ring. Wedding ring? His mind flashed to the photo in his wallet. Right. He was married.

"I dunno... I guess my hands are smaller now... Maybe it slid off in the confusion? Something happened... Made me younger, I guess? I dunno... It's all really confusing. I don't remember anything, though." He shrugged.

He let her guide him toward the burger joint. Her balance seemed all funny. Ear stuff? Mosey got real sick one winter, and had ear stuff. They had to get black market drugs to help fix her. It was expensive.

"How long have you been out on the streets?"

She liked how it felt to have her hand warming up again. "Huh... that sucks. After all that trouble you went through to get the other one back from me, too."

Eisley, upon remembering that this version of him didn't know about the wedding ring theft incident, suddenly looked like she'd stuffed a very dirty sock in her mouth. "They have really good burgers there, I hear! I'm excited! Are you excited!?"

He inquired about how long she had been out on her own. She used her other hand to struggle through what math she knew to try and dig him up an answer. "Well... you told me that I am 14 now, and it was a few years ago... so like, six? I think?" Her brows screwed up and she frowned.

"I think I was seven? When I left home..." She didn't like thinking about those times. It made her heart hurt.

"Mom was really angry, and threw something at me and it hurt a lot and made it hard to walk for a while." The confession slipped out quietly, just part of her explanation of why she had been alone so long. "I met papa, er... not my real one, everyone just called him that, after I left and he looked after me and a buncha other kids for a while." She could she the burger place down the street.

"When he died I was on my own cuz everybody else left... People are mean, and scary, so I stayed away from most of them." That reminded her of the jerk who still tended to harass her whenever he could.

"And there's this boy who's really mean and he tries to get me to go with him, and makes me cry if I don't want to." She tugged at his hand a little, obviously cross in a way only children get. She was totally tattling. "He's a real... a real pie head!"