“Because I never went away.” He spreads his arms wide with a broad grin, both a boast and a surrender; a challenge and a taunt. “Because they couldn’t leave me behind, so I never left. They tried - tried to forget me! And no one could!”

There’s a sense of undeniable victory as he says it, crowing it like it’s the biggest accomplishment in the world. It might as well be - he didn’t have any others to his name.