He’d arrived. Well, he’d re-arrived. Frey was back home, or as home as he could be. Something about going back to the Lagoon felt… wrong. It was too far from the home he’d left behind, too far from the home he’d known. Even the driveby visit he’d made… his father wasn’t there anymore. Rade wasn’t there, either, though he should have known. He should have known… he should have known. In all likelihood, the old boss was dead and gone, rotting somewhere. Rotting, just like Frey had been. Rotting, just like he felt he was, even now.

In a fit of depression, a fit of rage, a moment of weakness (whatever you wanted to call it, all of those things were true), he’d gone off in search of his mother. Looking for her. Searching, hunting, chasing… desperate. Desperate to find her. So desperate, in fact, that he’d ended up all the way on the mainland. All the way there, all the way back… and Frey still hadn’t found her. He’d failed. You failed her. Shut the hell up, Frey knows. Frey knows he’s failed her. Frey knows that better than he knows anything else.

Not only did he fail her. He’d failed all of them. Anyone who’d ever loved him, he’d failed. Fuck, why did he keep doing this? Self sabotage. All of it is an act of self sabotage. Frey’s chest ached, head filled with thoughts of Talya and Bellona. It wasn’t just them. It was so much worse. Kestrel, Daffodil, Hel, Thor– all of them. Chest aching. Head swimming. Beneath his feet, water gave way to sand. Sand as far as the eye could see. Sand, stretching out in every direction. Frey eyes it with disdain. It would do.

Haunted by thoughts of everyone he’s ever loved, everyone who’s ever loved him, Frey draws well into the Dunes. It’s… deserted. Empty, as far as he can tell. Haunted. Frey is deeply haunted, though many of his ghosts still lived and breathed. Many still walked among them. His father–? No. Now was not the time. He would not go to Tyr. Frey refused. Walking the Dunes, surveying it, he makes his decision. It appeared to belong to no one else, so it would belong to him.

Tipping his head back, Frey let go a low, haunting call. If anyone was here, then it was time they show themselves.