"... his name. It. Was Mikhail. He doesn't have one anymore. Industrial accidents never happen back home, you see. If seven hundred pounds of yellow-hot steel landed on a child, it was obviously the result of saboteurs." The vitriol drips from her tongue as easily as breathing, and she puts a hand to her heart. "I... He was that friend. I will tell you the secret to my success after that."

And now, she knelt down close, and whispered into Hope's ear, still struggling to maintain Supernova. How long has she been in it? The hate she feels at herself echoes in her tone. "I obeyed all the punishments Danno gave me, I threw my tantrums at my tutor Albrecht, until at last, one day, I felt... Nothing. My heart, frozen in place, continued. I proceeded like that. You may, too, if you let it happen. You will be armored from the sorrow, sank into the cold, lost and disconnected. And you will continue. Step by painful step, oh, you will continue."

"It will give you at least three, long, fearless years, that feel like an eternity, that make your passions into ash in your mouth. But. You will not feel the grief. You will not feel the pain, as I am. As you are." She stands. "The option waits, if you truly wish it. I. am not happy. I may never be happy. But I live. And so long as I do..."

Her eyes turn to the entrance. "Then I may still act."