Not a minute before, he'd been ready to jump off the bridge. But as he was lifted and spun around he let out the most joyus laugh of his entire life. Or at least, that's how it felt. It felt as though it were the first laugh he'd ever experienced, as it seemed this past lifetime, this twenty three years since that awful night, had not drawn a single laugh from his lips. And now he thought he might cry all over again for entirely different reasons than before.

All sadness and dreariness vanished from his face, replaced by a bright and beaming smile as Lucian's forehead pressed to his. He moved both his hands through the man's hair, hands unsteady but needing to touch him.

"Because you're soul knows," he blurted out, not thinking. He didn't care how ridiculous it sounded anymore. He no longer doubted the truth of it. "You were born the day after I lost you. Every last thing about you is the same. You are the one I lost, born anew."