I Will Wait for You

The trip to what had once been Opportunity had been reasonably uneventful, as much as travel on Pandora ever was, and it wasn't long until he found himself back at the place that had started to feel like home. Still felt like home, but at the same time a little different. Not enough to feel wildly different, but enough so that how long he'd been gone felt more obvious here then it had where he'd come out. He let out a bit of a sigh as he looked around, it continued to sink in that he'd been gone for years now and things had gone on without him.

Weirdly enough though his accesses and such all still worked and let him in. He imagined that was Vaughn's doing, letting him keep access to his own systems...just in case. It looked like not too much had been changed in his main building either, some more construction done, things cleaned up and patched up but no one had undone any of his decorating choices or anything like that, no one had come in and changed all his color schemes or anything annoying like that. He'd hate to have to take time to change all his colors back on top of everything else.

He remembered the way up to his office easily enough, making his way up to nearly the top of the building where he'd set himself up. He wasn't sure what he'd find when he got back into that room so he paused outside the door, taking another deep breath, eyes closed for a moment as he settled his sudden burst of nerves...but hey, this was fine, this was going to be fine. It was all going to be fine, he just had to come back in, do a little explaining, pick up where he left off. It'd all be cool. Another breath, then he keyed himself into the office, pausing in the doorway before stepping the rest of the way into the room and looking around...not much had changed around in here either. It felt good to be back.

Vaughn wasn't super good at running a company, Yvette was better at that, but when she needed to take care of her own business, or just wanted to get away, he always took over. This wasn't really his area of expertise, he was the money guy, the accountant, not a CEO. Sure he led his own group down in the remains of Helios, but that was a different kind of leading than this, it was just a balancing act of doing just enough to keep things running, without taking control and making grand decisions. He supposed Atlas has stagnated a little in that regard, he just needed Rhys to come back and get progress moving again.

He didn't really want to think of what would happen if Rhys didn't come back, because thinking about that meant thinking about the possibility that he was gone forever, and Vaughn wasn't going to accept or believe that. He knew his friend, he wouldn't just vanish without a word never to return, and if he was dead...Well...No one had found a body yet, or even a trace of one. That was the hope he was holding on to.

He'd dozed just a bit at the desk when the door opened, the sound enough to rouse him before he rubbed his eyes, "Yvette...You're back early..." He mumbled, before looking up and making a sort of undignified sound at who was standing there instead.

"Rhys!" He stumbled a little as he got out of the chair, not wasting time as he crossed the room to throw his arms around him in a tight hug, enough to lift him off his feet, "bro where have you been?!" He set him down, looking up at him with wide eyes, "are you alright? You look alright..." He didn't look terribly roughed up, apart from the roughed up that looked like he'd been traveling on Pandora. He looked up at him with a questioning expression, "I knew you weren't dead! I knew it!" He wanted to cry, but didn't, instead leading him back over to his desk.

Rhys came in expecting to find Yvette, or possibly someone else he didn't know sitting behind his desk. He hadn't really expected Vaughn to be there, he was glad to see him but it still took a moment for his brain to catch up to seeing his best friend there waiting for him...almost like he *had* just been hanging out in his office waiting for him to just randomly turn back up.

He laughed and rubbed at the back of his head when asked where he was, before letting out an oof of breath as he was grabbed up and hugged tightly, even lifted off his feet. He was quick to hug his friend back, every bit as glad to see him too, but wasn't really able to speak with just how tightly he was being held onto. "Vaughn...buddy...can't...breath!" He managed.

He took a half a step back to look Vaughn up and down, smiling to see he looked like still the same Vaughn he remembered. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." He assured him with a smile. "I'm okay. Umm...it's a long story, but it basically comes down to...I was in the vault...? And apparently...time moves differently there...?" He offered as a basic explanation. He smiled again, it was hard to stop right now that he was finally back here, with his friend. He reached out and pulled Vaughn back into another hug. "I missed you, bro...I'm sorry about all this. About being gone. I'm glad I'm back." He said quietly before letting go again, following him back to the desk.

Vaughn hadn't even realized just how crushing his hug on Rhys was until the poor guy wheezed out, and he laughed and let him down, looking a little embarrassed, "s-sorry man! Just...Wow..." He made a quick gesture to run a hand over his eyes before laughing, still a little giddy over this. There was something to be said about the feeling of being the only one left believing, only to find out that you were right. But even he'd started to doubt whether holding out hope would be fruitful, he wasn't the kind of person to give up, but it started to hurt worse than accepting loss probably did. It didn't matter though, because he was here.

He put his hands on the side of his face with a shocked expression, looking him up and down, "you were stuck in a vault? Are you sure you came out of that okay?!" He laughed, but his expression was sympathetic all the same, "yeah man, moved so differently it kept you gone for two years, and lemme tell you, holding down the fort here hasn't been easy!" He smirked and lifted a brow, but his tone was good humored.

He looked surprised when Rhys pulled him in for another hug, returning it with a lot less suffocation this time, "hey it's fine, it doesn't matter, you're here and people can stop trying to convince me to give up waiting." He turned a half smile his way before crossing around when he sat down at his desk.

"Me and Yvette have been keeping Atlas running while you were gone..." He said, before adding, "I know she screwed us over before, but she's alright, her only stipulation was a place here at the company..." He shrugged and chuckled, "I needed help and she was the only person I trusted enough to not screw you over..." He admitted, they didn't have a whole lot of allies who were especially savvy on running a company, unfortunately.

Rhys laughed a little nervously as Vaughn asked if he was okay after being stuck in a vault like that. "I mean, I still feel like me for whatever that counts for." he grinned a little, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "If you want me to talk to someone or something to prove I didn't actually come back a crazy headcase with an alien living in my skull or something though I'd be okay with that." Honestly, he hadn't actually thought about the possibility of the vault doing things to him and now that Vaughn had brought it up the thought made him a little jumpy...he'd had enough of things living in his head and doing stuff that he didn't approve of. He wouldn't fight Vaughn on this idea at all, actually he welcomed it a little now that it was in his mind.

He looked away, a little embarrassed, as Vaughn talked about how he'd been gone two years. "Yeah...I know man, I'm sorry." He said quietly. "It only felt like a couple days...maybe a week or two. Then I get out and find out it was two years? I mean...I kinda surprised anyone waited..." He caught himself and shook his head. "I mean, not that I'm saying that you wouldn't...cause I mean you obviously did...but...if you hadn't...I mean, I dunno if I would have blamed you..." He grimanced a little, that all made so much more sense in his head and probably just sounded stupid now that he'd said it out loud.

He brightened somewhat as Vaughn started talking about what they'd done. "Yeah...I mean if she's being cool and did all that for us she can totally stay." He wouldn't mind fixing up things between him and his other best friend while they were at it, and it said something if she was willing to take on a project like this for him. "I just...man...I missed you, bro." He admitted. "I'm just glad to be back...that place got weird, fast..."

Vaughn looked at him for a long moment, maybe even looked a little guilty that he'd even brought it up. Of course Rhys was still Rhys, and he really wasn't worried about anything he'd do to him, be chuckled and ran a hand over his neck, mimicking Rhys' gesture, "I'm not really worried about you like...Doing anything to me or anyone else..." He looked up at him with a half smile, looking his face over, "I'm more worried about you...Y'know?" He gestured to him with a wry sort of expression, "one crazy lunatic living in your head is one too many, last thing you need is aliens in there too," he explained, then let out a long sigh and nodded, "so like I think for my peace of mind and yours, maybe just have you looked at?" He gave a crooked smile, glad that he at least seemed okay with the idea.

He reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head firmly, "don't worry about it, it's not like you chose to get sucked up into a vault, and I get it y'know?" He chuckled and pulled up a chair to sit beside him, "but like...I just had a feeling y'know? Bro-senses, right?" He smirked, letting out a soft sigh, "everyone else kind of accepted what they thought was truth, and I guess sometimes I felt like maybe I should too, but I just couldn't," he explained, looking back up at him, "I knew you wouldn't ditch me like that!"

He nodded and looked thoughtful, "yeah, I mean don't get me wrong I didn't just give her the job, I felt it out for a bit first, made sure I could trust her..." He ran a hand over the back of his neck, "for a bit it was just me running this place by myself...But man...I really am not cut out for this CEO president thing..." He gave a crooked grin, "I think she thought I was losing my mind waiting this long...But she was willing to humor me y'know?" She did that a lot, for a long time, for both of them. Just humored their ridiculous ideas.

His expression softened at Rhys' words, and he chuckled softly, "I missed you too, I'm just kinda glad the two years didn't feel like two years to you..." He shook his head, "you probably would have come out with a few aliens up there if that had been the case!" He smirked and rose a brow, he couldn't imagine what it must have been like, and he found himself almost wishing they could have seen it together.