But he returned a different person than he'd been when he left, in a very literal way. He'd been a fool, exposing himself to the Negaverse, coming so close to letting them have him--and he'd fled in fear, first from Aegirine and then from Destiny City altogether. He'd found a change in himself, a shift--magic working to save him from the Negaverse's knowledge of who he was--and so Asher Voldaren become Ashe Stromkirk and also became very annoyed at the work that he left behind.
Before he left, he'd found a Mauvian to help him set up his new life; passports and plane tickets did not come easily without records of a person's existence, and anyway, part of him wanted to go back to academia, and without a record, that would be impossible. He couldn't pick up where Asher Voldaren had left off, but he could find something new to do, he supposed. Eventually.
It had all felt so much easier, when he was expecting to have a new life waiting on the other side of corruption. But now all he had was the same life, the same person he'd been, just....not, anymore.
Time away from the city had helped. Time across the ocean, even, back in Britain, and even though he couldn't see his family--wouldn't want to even if he could; he doubted they'd like Ashe any more than they'd liked Asher--and was far too nervous of potential ramifications to even try to be Carterhaugh, it had been....good. He was the same person, mostly, he though, just...with more time and experience, and perhaps a slightly better tuned savior complex.
Something about setting oneself on fire to keep others warm, he supposed.
He'd enjoyed living for himself, gadding about London and having a grand time, but that could only last for so long. Destiny City was home, and he'd been away long enough.
Preparations to return had been more than a bit complicated. Finding a new apartment across the ocean wasn't exactly an easy thing to do, nor was getting himself back into his old PhD program. But, well. There was an open spot, what with Asher Voldaren declared withdrawn, and so Ashe Stromkirk slotted into his place easily.
How strange it was, to find that you had replaced yourself. That the world had kept on spinning around a hole where your old life used to be, and it was a hole that you still fit into, if a bit awkwardly.
Home was home, though, and Ashe was all too happy to settle back in. He'd start his program come the spring semester; a little out of sync, and a ways behind where he would be if he hadn't lost his work and so much time, but he'd be back where he belonged. In academia. Teaching, learning, studying.
He'd finish, this time. And figure the rest out later.
[wc: 508 words]
