84 [Voice]

[flameandpassion]

[There is a pause before the girl that was in a dozen pieces begins to speak. Her voice is quiet, free of the normal conviction and bravado that she would normally have in such a situation.]

Tell me where I'm needed.

[She has no right to call the shots when this is half her fault.]

Comments

[flameandpassion]

[She's forcing herself to get a grip -- crying is useless and she's acting like a child and she needs to stop crying over something that is her fault -- and she manages, drawing in several shaking breaths, before she manages to keep her voice as even as it's going to get.]

She won't have the honor of killing me permanently.

[Quietly.]

Tell me what you need me to do and it'll get done.

[al_truism]

I need you to tell me everything that happened down there.

[flameandpassion]

Aelia was summoned weeks ago without incident. She and John talked -- it's all on video, if you want to see it. I can forward it to you. He showed it to me when he was finished.

[There are no more secrets, not anymore. Nathaniel can deal with it. She draws in a deep breath.]

After that, we set to work on summoning the fire Animus -- and I insisted on coming along because I thought I could be of help. I've talked to it before, on its own, and it was coherent. And he put in countless measures to keep it from escaping -- and if he died, the Animus would cease being summoned, and go back to where it came from. But then Aelia showed up -- and Ekpyrosis was too powerful -- and when Aelia showed up, she --

[Here, her voice breaks, but she grits her teeth to keep talking, because Al asked her a question, and she was going to answer it, goddammit.]

-- murdered him. And left me alive a little longer.