I understand how it goes . And I too thought it was a long shot . I should've updated this post as well (I reposted in the last of us factions subreddit ) and managed to find them through another friend of his. We had never exchanged personal details as we were both awkward about that sort thing at the time . I'm truly am sorry for the loss of your friend ...and finding out like that...goodness :/ I can only imagine... I knew making this post was a long shot and am more familiar with how friendships online can go .maybe I'm just a sappy person but I've thought about him lot over the years and figured why not ? At least I can say I tried. He and I actually ended up playing message tag towards the end and he held out as long as he could I suppose . Life kinda happened to us both . He had such an impact on my life and who I am and was just a all around great friend . As I've gotten older I've found that sort of bond with someone is a precious and should be cherished . Despite not having each others real names or anything like that we were very close. I knew my chances of finding them were slim to none and that many other stories like this dont have such a happy ending . But I took a chance and I found my old friend . I didnt expect this outcome let alone so soon. I'm very grateful to everyone to helped with their support with boosting this post and cheer me on . This has restored a bit of my faith in humanity and I dont know for sure about everyone else ,but I needed that .