"You look ridiculous." Lukas blabbed, staring somewhat concerned at his wardrobe.

"They took away our jackets. They said it was a sign of our 'rebellious nature' and locked them up somewhere. It's not like we had a choice." Aiden merely shrugged, sounding uninterested, as if he'd rather not speak of it.

Lukas felt himself go speechless. He had no idea how the Blaze Rods had slipped his mind. He was an absolute idiot if he didn't think they wouldn't meet one way or the other.

Of course, he did think about them-mostly how Aiden had pushed him off the ledge-but thinking about actually meeting them physically was a dream.

"So," his former friend cut through the silence, "what's brought you here all of a sudden? Jesse with you?"

Lukas automatically shot him a glare, and he raised his hands in surrender, grinning. The mention of her name tightened a knot of guilt in his chest.

"I'll take that as a no." He put his hands back down at his sides, tapping his fingers on his leg. "You running a mission for her? I wouldn't be surprised. Her lapdog would do anything nowadays, right?"

"She didn't ask me to do anything." Lukas had barely arrived and he already felt irritated, expression straight. "I came here of my own volition, and I especially didn't come here to see you."

"Wow, I'm hurt." He exclaimed, voice coated with sarcasm. "What else could you be here for? You just want some closure, huh?"

His grin turned bitter, sour, forced. He gestured with his hands, pointing at him.

"That's it. You enjoy seeing me like this, you sadistic prick. While I'm working my ass off, you just come show your face here to gloat. Right? I-"

"You know," the blond interrupted, perfectly calm, a fire flickering in his eyes, "you're still the pathetic, stubborn little bastard that I left."

Aiden was left in silent shock, gritting his teeth painfully.

"Yeah, you left. You pushed us aside. Just like everything else."

"I haven't put aside anything. There was just a time, maybe even for just a few moments, but I forgot all about you." His voice was firm, but his tone seemed softer. The other male just stared at him in complete disbelief. "So I guess, in a sense, I did push you away. But maybe that's because we weren't even together in the first place."

The expression on Aiden's face faltered. His stern, distinct aura now seemed shaken. And that only proved one thing; Lukas had broken through his bluff.

He felt it. He felt exactly how powerless he was. Spitting out words that seemed harsh but had no effect. Asserting his status on the hierarchy, when in fact he was well below. Aiden could do nothing.

"Lukas! Is that you?"  A woman's voice cut through the tensed silence like a knife.

Isa seemed utterly exhausted, but that didn't stop her from grinning as she noticed the returning hero. Her disheveled hair laid against her shoulders, dress put on as if she were in a hurry. No jewelry nor accessory accompanied her; of course, that was self explanatory.

Before he could reply she took his hand with both of hers and shook it gratefully.

"Do forgive me for my horrendous attire," she apologized, shaking her head, "welcome back, it is a great pleasure to have you here."

Aiden let out a clear snort of disgust. Isa's kind smile turned vile as she snapped her head towards Aiden.

"And you can get back to work." She exclaimed through gritted teeth. His response was an eye roll and firm shake of his head before turning around and returning back to the crops. Her expression turned gentle once again. "Does Jesse happen to be with you?"

Lukas grin wavered.

"Unfortunately, no. I'm here by my lonesome."

"Ah, I see. Welcome back anyways. How about we find a place to talk? It'd be nice to get out of this cold."

*

"So, what's brought you back?" Isa queried, leaning back in her chair, hands folded in her lap. "You're quite an early bird as well, not many of us are awake at this hour. Besides the ones that need to work, of course. But anyway, I'm getting off track. What brings you here? How are you doing? I'd say, it has been a while since our last encounter."

Lukas listened to her ramble off, fingers tapping on his knee, somewhat distant. But he listened nevertheless.

"To be honest, I'm not sure why I came." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I'm just-I think I just wanted an adventure. It's been rough the past few weeks."

"Well, whatever the reason, you are absolutely welcome to stay here, for as long as you like. It might not be the best of course, but it is what Terram City has to offer."

That made Lukas smile a bit.

"New name?" Isa laughed.

"Well, it's not just the name that's changed." She let out a breath, smiling. "Milo and I have been running things together. It's not always easy, that rascal always has things on his mind, but we've worked through it. I'll say it's better than it's always been. We've learned a lot down here as well. There's a lot of things we still don't know, but we have a long time to learn. Don't you think?"

He nodded. "I'm happy for you guys."

"We couldn't have done it without you.  The four of you have taught me how to move on. How to be free. It's good to remember the the old times, but it's also important to let go."

"Let go of your past huh?" He asked, murmuring. "How do you do that?"

"Memories that hold you down...it's often quite a burden, don't you think? I'd hate to put all my focus on that, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Stuck in the past, I'd say."

BNHA reference! (Wink wink, Todoroki ;)

Anyway, credit for the new name of Sky City goes to @actually_star, I hope you don't mind me using it.

I kinda liked this chapter a bit more than the others, I hope you guys enjoyed it too. Cya later :)