They started their meager breakfast a few minutes later, after Elsie's growling stomach broke the still silence that had fallen again. Their coffee had cooled down to a consumable temperature so Elsie sipped on that first, while Camilla helped herself to the waffles. She spread peanut butter on hers with a few chocolate chips scattered on top.

At the sight of Camilla's creation, Elsie hummed in approval and began dressing her own waffle with every sugary topping she could find. It ended up being a terrible idea, but at least she had her bitter black coffee to balance out the overpowering sweetness.

"Do you ever stop to think if something is a bad idea before you actually do it?" Camilla asked, eyeing a stream of maple syrup that was falling off of Elsie's waffle and onto her plate.

"Sometimes, but not always," Elsie admitted before licking some of the syrup off the plate.

"It shows."

Elsie rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll wash your jacket if it gets dirty."

"I'm counting on it."

As they munched on their waffles and looked out at the city below, the sky slowly began to brighten. There were a few clouds in the sky, but not enough to make the view any less beautiful as the dark black of night faded into a pink and purple gradient, and then to red and orange. It had been ages since Elsie last watched a sunrise, and even longer since she had watched one from that lookout, but it was just as breathtaking as she last remembered.

"Is this what that sunset would've been like?" Camilla suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Elsie replied as she turned to Camilla, not following her train of thought.

Camilla raised an eyebrow at her again at her confusion. "The sunset on the beach? By the pier? When... when I was a huge jerk?"

Elsie had almost forgotten that was their original reason for sitting on the beach in the first place.

"Maybe?" Elsie shrugged. "I actually hadn't thought about that when I was planning this."

For a second, Camilla simply stared at her, her expression searching again, before turning back to the sunrise.

"I still don't understand how you can forgive me so easily," she said softly.

"You don't want me to?" Elsie asked.

Camilla shook her head. "It's not that. It's just... I'd never be able to do that. I've never done that."

"Forgive someone or forgive someone easily?"

Camilla kept her eyes on the sky when she answered. "Both."

Elsie suddenly remembered the hostility that Camilla treated her with once she thought Elsie was trying to use her. It was hard to understand Camilla's perspective without having the same power as her, but Elsie guessed that Camilla's remedy for getting screwed over was not trusting people in the first place. It was an effective method, albeit a lonely one.

Just as Elsie was about to ask if there was anyone else Camilla trusted, she continued on her own.

"I wouldn't be able to forgive a lot of people," Camilla said, her eyes still fixed on the brightening sky.

Elsie tried to hide her surprise at the admission, but she wasn't sure how successful she was. "Like who?"

For a while, Camilla was quiet, and before Elsie could tell her she didn't have to answer, she continued.

"My mother," Camilla stated plainly, but her body seemed tense as she hugged her knees even closer to her chest.

For what felt like the millionth time, Camilla's answer was not what Elsie expected. Elsie could never imagine herself in a situation where she couldn't forgive her mom, but maybe her family was unusual, just like Jordan said. She couldn't relate to Camilla's situation, but maybe she could at least try to understand.

So when Camilla didn't elaborate, Elsie spoke up. "Is that what you were dreaming about?"

After a few seconds of silence, Camilla slowly nodded once.

"Sort of... it's..." Camilla sighed. "It didn't make any sense. You know how dreams are."

Elsie shrugged. "Sometimes they can make more sense than you think."

But Camilla didn't respond. The sun was now high enough that it was too bright to look at, so her eyes scanned the city below.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Elsie assured. "But if you do want to, I won't judge you, if that's what you're worried about."

Camilla's gaze turned to Elsie for a few moments before drifting down to the truck bed in front of them.

"I was on a mission, in the dream," she began. "I don't know what it was about exactly, something about taking out some bad guys' secret hideout, I think. We had everything under control, at first. But then more of them started appearing, and they kept showing up until they had us surrounded. And we were trapped.

"I tried to hold them off," Camilla continued, her voice wavering ever so slightly. "I thought I could be strong enough. But no matter what I did, no matter how hard I fought, more kept coming. And I couldn't do a thing. It was like I was powerless."

Camilla took a deep breath, but Elsie almost missed it since she was so focused on Camilla's words.

"At some point, I was the only one left. The rest of my squad was injured or captured, and the hostiles were threatening me with them. I wanted to surrender—I couldn't have them getting hurt because of me.

"But before I could... I heard this voice from my comms. It was Base. They said there were new orders, that... that I had to..." Camilla gulped. "I had to kill them. I had to kill the hostiles at all costs. Even if that meant hurting my squad."

Elsie couldn't suppress her surprised expression, and even if Camilla still wasn't looking at her, she quickly responded as if she had.

"They've never ordered me to do that before," she quickly explained, her gaze still fixed downwards. "I've never... I've never killed anybody. I've never had to. But... dreams, you know?

"But... I didn't realize it was a dream. Or that the order was weird. I just knew I didn't want to do it. But everyone else was looking at me, waiting for me to carry out the orders.

"So... I refused. And when the order came again, I refused again. And... it just kept going back and forth and back and forth, and my squad was getting more aggressive, asking me why and how I could disobey orders like that. And the hostiles... they were pleading with me, dozens of them, begging me not to kill them, to spare their lives, that they had families waiting for them."

Camilla suddenly stopped to take a shuddering breath. Elsie felt terrible watching her with no way to make anything better, so she moved closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Even through two layers of jacket sleeves, she could feel Camilla trembling slightly.

"At some point, the voice changed," Camilla eventually continued. "It was coming from next to me instead of my earpiece, and it wasn't the same person."

When Camilla took a deep breath, so did Elsie.

"It was my mother. She was there. Next to me. Telling me to kill those people. Yelling at me to do it. Telling me it was my fault that my squad was stuck in such a situation in the first place. Asking me how I couldn't do such a simple thing for her and if I was really that weak and powerless. Shouting that I had to do what she said because we're... we're family, and if I really loved her and appreciated what she's done for me then I would do it without question.

"But I still refused." Camilla chuckled a little, but it seemed out of place next to the exhaustion in her voice. "And it felt great to be able to do that. I mean, she's never told me to kill anyone in real life, of course. But... her words were real. She's used those arguments with me before, for other things. And it felt great to finally be able to shoot them down. But then..."

The faint smile that had appeared on her face slowly disappeared. "I don't know what happened, but suddenly, I was moving without meaning to. I started using my powers and I just knew somehow that... she was making me use them. She was controlling me. And..." Camilla took another shuddering breath as she squeezed her eyes closed and dropped her forehead to her knees.

"I killed them," Camilla whispered, her voice barely audible, as if she couldn't bear to say the words too loud. "All of them. Not just the hostiles, but my squad as well. They all... I killed them all. And I know it was just a dream, but I can't forget how real it felt. The feeling of not being in control, then hurting people in the process... it was awful."

Camilla was silent for a while after that, but Elsie could tell she was quietly crying by the way she was shaking. Elsie tightened her arm on Camilla's shoulders, knowing full well that her comfort couldn't fix anything, but it didn't hurt to try.

Her grip must've been a little much, or Camilla was caught off-balance, because Elsie ended up pulling Camilla's weight onto herself. In another situation, it might have been awkward for Elsie to have pulled Camilla's head so that her face was looking right at Elsie's chest, but Elsie didn't care, and Camilla didn't seem to notice.

By the time Camilla grew still and her breathing evened out, the sun had completely risen and the sky was a clear blue. It was starting to get a little warm as well, but Elsie was willing to tolerate it to avoid disturbing Camilla.

"Thanks," Camilla quietly mumbled, her voice only sounding a little rough.

"Of course," Elsie replied simply. She hadn't done much anyway.

After a moment of silence, Camilla continued. "You can take off your jackets, if you want."

"Oh, thank god."

Camilla sat up a bit to give Elsie space to take off the two jackets and accepted her own when Elsie returned it.

"If we're going to stay here for a bit, can I close my eyes for a few minutes?" Camilla asked, folding her jacket up neatly to resemble a makeshift pillow. "Unless we're going soon, then I can sleep in the truck."

"We're staying," Elsie assured, even though she didn't actually have a timeline for their morning.

She held out a hand and beckoned for Camilla's jacket pillow, which Camilla gave her without argument. Elsie made sure her legs were stretched out and comfy before placing the jacket in her thighs and waved Camilla over. Camilla must've been exhausted because she complied without argument and rested her head on Elsie's legs.

"I'll probably wake you when my legs fall asleep though," Elsie grinned, even though Camilla wasn't looking at her.

Camilla could only hum in acknowledgement, and a few seconds later she seemed to be fast asleep.

Elsie could feel sleep catching up on her as well, but she was determined to stay awake in case Camilla needed her again. Absentmindedly, she played with the strands of Camilla's hair that spilled onto her lap. She looked nothing like her tough guardian self when she was like that, curled up with her head resting on Elsie's lap. And even though it was Camilla's job to protect Elsie, Elsie suddenly felt an overwhelming need to protect Camilla as well.

It seemed unrealistic, considering what opponents Camilla normally faced and what had happened the last time Elsie tried to save Camilla, and it was probably just Elsie's tired mind coming up with crazy ideas again. So Elsie set the thought aside in favor of gazing at the city below her and the woman resting peacefully on her lap.

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