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Brisa tried not to think too hard about what Sombra was saying or what Dave was replying. She focused on the way Dave held her tighter, the way this was okay, the way it felt like, yes, yes, he really did love her after all. In a way she couldn't put her dewclaw on exactly, she felt . . . safe...

Sombra laughed, and it sounded like birdsong. "Two seconds, huh? I'd give it at least ten minutes. You're right, though. I think we're almost ready t'grow that lil' bit stronger, now that we're steppin' past this." Brisa let her Shadow speak for her. Dave's foreleg at her mane and his head near...

He'd said it before, with different words, in other ways. Still, Brisa was hearing the meaning for the first time. Not an admonishment at all, but acknowledgment from someone who saw worth in her. "O–okay," she said, her voice choking on a quiet sob. "Th–thank you—" Sombra smiled, closed her...

Brisa shook her head, wincing, cringing, even. "Please, Dave, y'got nothin' to apologise t'me fer. I started it. I hurt you far worse. And... You were just tryin' to help me, an' I lashed out." Sombra seemed to grimace. "It didn't help that ya fuckin' called him 'pa' first." If Brisa could...

Sombra nodded, smiled. Still so tired. "Ah, yeah, she is," managed Brisa, her voice thick and uncomfortable. "I guess I just..." She trailed off. How could she explain? She hardly understood what was happening in her heart, herself. Again, Sombra answered for her. "A person can only suffer...

Brisa took a few shuddering breaths, and found the strength to look at Dave's face, scared of what he might see in her own. "Y'can call me Sombra, if y'like," offered the Shadow. "I'd say 'pleased t'meet ya', but I know you as well as Brisa does, of course." Sombra smiled, a little awkwardness...

Brisa's face screwed up in pain, and she cast her face down, afraid to look at Dave and see his blood where she'd rent his throat. Sombra spoke for her. "Howdy, Dave. Please, come an' take a seat by us. We got some things we gotta say to each other, I guess." That shadow-distorted voice was...

"Don't go any further," warned Sombra. Brisa stared hard at the Shadow. All she wanted was to keep going, to sink further into darkness, forever, and be done with it. Her final duty. To guarantee she'd never hurt anyone again. Her breath shook with fatigue, with misery, with anger, anger...

The tread of Sombra's pawpads on the forest floor grew more unbearable with every stride. Still she said nothing. Brisa broke first. "Fine. I'm not happy. So what? What does admittin' it fuckin' prove?" Again, that withering look of exhausted exasperation. "Yer friends want you t'be fuckin'...

Don't follow me. Brisa loped onward, heedless of the things she glimpsed in the the forest depths. It didn't matter. So long as it brought her further away from Dave, from the others, from everything. I'm a goddamn monster. She'd finally done it, like she always feared. She'd lost control...

Mia. He'd called her Mia. His daughter. A killer. You called him 'pa'. Looks like y'both have phantoms in yer heads. "I'm a goddamn monster," she whispered, letting Dave fall at her feet. "I was right the first time." It's easier to believe that, ain't it? She backed away from him, the...

The blow killed every thought in Brisa's head for the seconds that followed save hitting back. When she did, it was vicious. Paralysed by the Arrest, Dave's throat was easy to get at, to sink teeth into. Brisa shook him like a goddamn ragdoll, and for a moment, she feared that he'd fucking turn...

Pure adrenaline and her horror at what she'd done spurred Brisa to take control. Her fur gleamed as she performed a shadow-empowered Radiant Arrest, laying down shackles of light on Dave. "Stay the fuck down," she warned. "I don't want yer help no more. Talkin' to you just makes everythin'...

Brisa's mind sparked into an electrical fire that she didn't know how to douse. "If you ain't afraid of me then why's yer fuckin' shadow pissin' himself behind ya?" she growled. "You don't understand this any better'n you understand yerself." Shadow whimpered. Dave looked ready to retort—she...

Brisa huffed and clenched her paws. Why was this happening? Should she just... agree to take a nap? Fuck that. "Ain't nothin' to snap out of! I'm not wrong. My shadows ain't bullshit, just painful. It's like this: I've got strength, and it's only right fer me to do everythin' I can to use it...

Dave's Shadow was frightened of her. Fucking great. What had she done to scare him, anyway? Nothing but run herself ragged helping people. And the best part was, he'd insist he wasn't scared of her because everything Shadow did and said was nonsense, apparently. You're pretty goddamn fearsome...

Brisa scoffed. "If I'd sat on my haunches here, things could've gone a lot worse fer Cynthian, fer Owen, fer anyone around him. As if I coulda seen Nip beggin' fer help an' said no, just 'cause I'm tired." It's worse'n tiredness. It goes deeper'n that. You feel it. Leave me the fuck alone...

Brisa peered back at him. He sounded exasperated. "What, since bein' unconscious longer'n everyone else afore I woke up in Null Village?" she said, bitterly. "When would I have gotten any fuckin' sleep since then? I went straight after Cynthian an' saved her from bein' consumed by her own...

Dave was looking at her like she was still wounded. "You want somethin', partner?" she asked, tersely. She was fine. When was the last time you were fine? What does even mean, fer you? That y'ain't dead yet? Ah, no. Too late fer that.