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Summary: After five years, Conner decides to stop running and come home.

He thought he would never return to this place. He promised himself five years ago that when he left this town, he would never come back because at every turn, every street, everything about this town brought nothing but pain. As he pulled the car to a stop, he read the sign, "Welcome to Reefside." He wondered what had happened to everyone in the five years he was gone. Were they the same people they were when he left. Probably not, he wasn't even the same person so how could he expect them to be the same. Being on a pro soccer team had it's perks, there was no doubt about that, but even the money and the traveling couldn't give him what he wanted. That was his friends, that was a normal life.

He continued driving around Reefside until he came to a place he knew all to well, Hayley's Cyberspace. He stopped the car and shut off the engine, ' How will this turn out? Are they even still here? If so, how will they act when they find out that I'm back after all this time?' those were just a few of the questions he had running through his mind. "Only one way to find out." he said to himself. He shut the car off and walked inside the double doors as a wave of nostalgia hit him. He took a moment to just let the place sink in, it looked exactly the same as it had when he left. He proceeded to the bar where the red-headed woman was being swarmed with teenage customers, he took a seat on one of the stools and a smile slowly made his way across his face.

"How can I help you, sir?" the woman asked, not noticing who he was.

"You can tell me what you know about these people." he slid a picture of himself, Kira, Ethan, and Dr. Oliver across the counter.

"Well, these three come in just about everyday, they are my best customers, the one in blue and the one in yellow have been coming here for about seven years, the man in black, I've known him since college and he's one of my best friends."

"And the one in red?" he asked with a slight amount of amusement in his voice, for she looked right at him and still had not noticed.

The woman hesitated for a moment before answering, "nobody's heard from him in five years, he was best friends with the two kids and one day he just up and left without giving a reason."

"Do you know where I could reach them?" Conner asked.

"The man in black, Tommy lives on the outskirts of the woods, he is a science teacher at Reefside High. Kira comes in every Friday to perform on the stage, she is an aspiring singer, has been trying for as long as I could remember to get a record deal and make it in the business and if these producers would ever open their eyes, they would see that she's a star in the making. Ethan is currently trying to get an internship at Microsoft, he's really into computers, he should be in here later today." Hayley said.

"Thank you, you have been a great help."

"Well, I try, and good luck with whatever you need them for."

He got up to leave and as he reached the door when he heard a voice from the bar, it was the woman he just finished talking to.

"Sir!" he turned around to find the woman smiling at him. "It was good seeing you again Conner, welcome home."

"Thanks Hayley."

He left they Cyberspace and got in his car. He ran his fingers through his short blonde hair and sighed.

"I was sure they wouldn't recognize me, damn, this just got really complicated." he looked at his reflection one last time, noticing the goatee and the short blonde spikes that he had grown accustomed to over the past year begin to fade to a clean shaven, 17 year old kid that had long brown hair and then back to the look he has now.

'I'm not that same kid I was five years ago, this is me now, I'm here to tie up loose ends and when I do I'll be out of here. They don't have to like it but they do need to realize this is me' he thought to himself before driving back to his hotel room. He would start his search tomorrow when he had time to sort everything out and figure out what to say to everyone.

TBC.