"Who are you?"

That was the first thing I said to the driver in the truck.

He replied, in a voice all too familiar.

"Get in! Hurry!"

I stumbled forward. The headlights were so bright, I could hardly see. The throttle of the engine overlapped with the blood-throb in my ears. I heard distant cars approaching.

Before I knew it, I had jumped into the passenger's seat, propelled by raw instinct.

The truck sped off, leaving the scene of battle behind us. I stole a glance back.

Kevin the skull knight was still alive, at barely over 10 HP. And his subordinates, too. Cars from the syndicate poured into the backstreet. Soon, we had driven too far to see them, and their shapes were lost in the darkness.

The buildings and roads whooshed past us. I checked the speedometer; we had exceeded 140mph.

Dazed and breathless, I turned to Hei. I took in his eyes, his brow, the ridge of his nose, his parted, panting lips. The bead of sweat upon his temple. His staccato breaths. His hands upon the wheel, one white-knuckled and organic, and the other mechanical. When Hei had disappeared in front of my eyes, in his fight with 6E12, his hand was the only thing that remained behind.

Was this really him?

None of this felt real. His voice. His face. For so long, I had only heard and seen them in my dreams. I'd wake up from those dreams gasping and pained. Was this just another dream? I wanted to reach over and hold him. At least once, while I had the chance.

I wasn't sure how long we drove for. It felt like half an hour; we crossed bridges and went through subterranean tunnels. At last, we parked inside the storage garage of what seemed to be a grocery store. The garage door closed behind us. A few other trucks were parked around us, and farther away, crates and tall shelves lined the floorspace.

Hei was looking at me now. Shakily, I took off my mask. A subtle twist played upon his lips. His eyes narrowed as he saw my face, and I could tell that something within him had broken.

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He leaned in and squeezed me tight. His arms wrapped around me. And I knew, pressed against his trembling chest, that he had missed me so.

"It's really you," I asked, "isn't it?"

"I finally found you," he said, and he stroked my hair.

I had so many questions. So many things to say. But for a while, we just sat there, and held each other.

Hei led me out of the truck, then to a door at the side of the garage. It led into a modest office with sterile white walls. Desks and cabinets lined one side of the room. Against the other wall rested a twin bed and a small couch. The room had another black door, with a glass window, through which I could see the aisles of the store proper.

"Do you want anything?" Hei asked as he headed for the black door. Before he could leave, I grabbed his hand.

"Please, stay with me," I asked. And I led him on to the couch. We sat next to each other. I was exhausted, and lost, and I let myself fall limp against his shoulder.

"You're not, like, a clone or anything, right?" I asked. I tried to laugh, to make it sound like a joke. But my words stumbled out clumsily, caught tight in my throat, as I fought back against feelings that threatened to overwhelm me.

Hei lowered his head. His breathing was deep and heavy.

"When I fought 6E12," he began, "when he used his last technique, I thought it was the end. The world around us disappeared. I thought everything would be destroyed."

I still remembered that spell. A massive, glowing runic circle had surrounded us. And then, the ground itself started to vanish. We tried to run. I managed to escape. Hei was trapped within. And like everything else inside, he too disappeared.

"The name of that spell is Banishment: This World," Hei explained, his voice low. "It's not a spell for dealing damage. It's a sealing spell. It took me to a dark place. There was nothing there, except for the chunks of earth it sealed away too. I was alone, floating. Until…that world broke apart. I think that was when 6E12 died."

"And you escaped?" I asked.

"The next thing I knew, I was here."

So that explained why I could never find him in Gold, even with the Seekflower. Hei fought 6E12, contributed to the kill, and survived the whole ordeal. That instantly ranked him up twice, straight from Silver to Platinum.

I let my shoulders droop. "You missed out so much in Gold," I said with a sad chuckle.

"Tell me what happened."

I ought to. But not now. There was no need for ugliness now. We had just met.

I was exhilarated, lightheaded, and exhausted, all at once. My body felt like jelly. I slid down, until my head sank into his laps. My sight was blurry, and my eyelids heavy. I felt warm.

"Gimme thirty minutes," I said.

And there I stayed.