Content Warning (see in-line comments for details)

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Camilla had a gash in her left side, courtesy of the piece of roofing she used in the stands to block the fireball attacks. A piece of it had blown off, slicing Camilla like a hot knife. The heat had somewhat cauterized the wound, but squeezing through the hole they made earlier and their subsequent constant movement agitated the injury and caused it to bleed again.

Camilla insisted it wasn't too deep, and she only needed to rest for a bit so the bleeding could slow, but Elsie was more than a little worried about infections. There wasn't much moisture Camilla could wick from the air, but they rinsed out the wound with whatever she could gather. Then, from Camilla's jacket-turned-vest, Elsie tore off the bottom hem to serve as a makeshift bandage and tied it around Camilla's waist.

Since Elsie had a feeling that Camilla would insist that she had spent enough time resting and that they should get moving again, Elsie sat herself down against the opposite wall without leaving it up to discussion. For a moment, Camilla looked like she was about to argue, but she thankfully decided against it and grudgingly slumped against the wall.

"See?" Elsie said, strangely chipper at the grumpy look in Camilla's eyes. The expression probably extended to a frown under her mask, but Elsie didn't care. "That wasn't so tough, was it? Not everyone's out to get you, you know. Good people do exist."

Camilla narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess: you're one of them?"

"I mean, it would sound conceited of me to agree with you, but I can say with confidence that I'm not a complete asshole."

Camilla scoffed, sounding almost like a laugh, and turned her head to stare down the path ahead of them.

The two of them sat in silence for a while on opposite sides of the narrow path, their bodies facing each other but their eyes avoiding contact. Exhaustion was catching up to Elsie after her long day, and her long night before that hadn't helped either. She couldn't imagine how Camilla felt though, since she probably had several long days in a row. So, of course, for the sole purpose of keeping them both awake, and definitely not because it was getting awkward, Elsie decided to break the lengthening silence.

"I don't get you," Elsie said with an exhausted sigh.

She didn't expect Camilla to respond, but she gave her a beat to do so just in case. When Camilla didn't take it, Elsie continued.

"You act like you try to get everyone to like you all the time, but you get pissed off and break character when you think they're trying to use you. Why not just act like your normal angry self and save everyone's time? People only think they can take advantage of you if you seem like a pushover, so why even let them think that in the first place?"

For a moment, Camilla seemed content with ignoring Elsie. But something must have changed her mind when she looked at Elsie, her eyes narrowed. "You used to try to please everyone. Why was that?"

Elsie was hoping that Camilla wouldn't use that against her, but it still counted as a win that she even responded in the first place.

"Okay, maybe," she admitted. "But that's different. That was like... a version of the truth. Alright, and I guess I needed to be non-controversial to get jobs. But you... I get that sometimes it's easier to change how you act to blend in with different scenarios. But does it ever warrant needing to constantly act like someone else? There were so many times when it was just the two of us. Why couldn't you just be honest with me from the beginning, instead of having me get to know a complete lie?"

Elsie knew her words sounded harsh, but she didn't want to bother sugarcoating it, not when Camilla already didn't trust her. And it was a question that had bothered her for years already.

Camilla kept her narrowed eyes focused on Elsie. "If I'm not mistaken, you really liked that lie, didn't you?"

It didn't answer her question at all, Elsie noticed, but she kind of expected that avoidance.

"Yeah," Elsie admitted, but she didn't get as much satisfaction as she thought she would at Camilla's slightly surprised reaction to her honesty. "Yeah, I did. I was the woman who did whatever people expected of me so they would like me. If I did something that was considered wrong or inappropriate by at least one person, I apologized to appease them and I wouldn't do it again, regardless of whether or not I agreed with them.

"So, yeah, when I met a woman that did what she wanted and what she thought was right, I really liked her. I liked the woman who was true to herself, regardless of what people thought of her. I admired her. In fact, I wanted to be like her." It was Elsie's turn to scoff. "Turns out that you're living a lie, just like I was."

The silence that followed was borderline painful for Elsie, but she forced herself to stay quiet. She said her piece; however Camilla reacted wasn't Elsie's problem.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? About how I treated you?" Camilla suddenly asked.

It wasn't the reaction that Elsie was expecting, so she took a while to come up with an answer. Eventually, she ended up shrugging in response. "I don't know. Exposing the other side of you wouldn't benefit anyone, so what's the point?"

"But it might've hurt my reputation," Camilla countered. "You could've gotten back at me for hurting you."

"Revenge isn't exactly my style," Elsie said honestly. "In small doses, maybe. Something that drastic, not so much. I'd feel more guilty than satisfied. I wasn't interested in starting any drama anyway; being quietly bitter at you was good enough. Plus, I was also freaking out that you would out me." Elsie tilted her head in question. "And why didn't you anyway? Out me, I mean. Were you worried that if you did that, I would expose you?"

Camilla was quiet for a moment, probably debating on if she really wanted to answer. "I didn't care what you would say about me," she eventually said. "But like you said, exposing you wouldn't benefit anyone. I just did what was necessary to get you off my back. Any more would be overkill and a waste of energy."

Her reasoning wasn't completely unreasonable, and Elsie saw Camilla in a slightly different light. But only slightly—she still thought Camilla was an asshole. Elsie did have at least one more question, but she wasn't sure if she actually wanted the answer to it. But eventually, curiosity got the best of her.

"If the same situation happened now, would you do the same thing?"

Camilla made eye contact with Elsie, but the expression under her mask was a mystery. "Probably."

Well, at least Elsie couldn't fault her for lying. With both of them unwilling to continue the conversation, they sat in silence for a few more minutes before Camilla finally got to her feet. Since she didn't seem to struggle as she stood, Elsie accepted her silent suggestion to keep moving, and they continued down the dark pathway without a word.

After what felt like five minutes, they finally found one of the elevators. Elsie felt more elated than ever to see an elevator than she had ever been, but her happiness felt out of place next to Camilla's stoicism. Before she could celebrate though, Camilla gently placed her free hand to the door, and her eyebrows slowly began to furrow.

"There's something leaning against the door," she said. "Hang on..." Camilla closed her eyes in concentration.

The only indication that she was using her powers was the slowly waning flame in her other hand and the way her body began to sway unsteadily. Just as Elsie was about to start holding her upright by the shoulders, Camilla opened her eyes.

"Whatever's leaning against the door," Camilla unsuccessfully tried to hide a deep breath, "it's holding up a bunch of other pieces. I...," another breath, "I can't trace it far back enough."

Elsie could almost feel the pained expression in Camilla's voice. It wasn't physical pain; it was as if she was mad at herself for not being able to do something so simple. The sound was strange coming from Camilla, and it caught Elsie slightly off guard.

"It's fine," Elsie said, trying to reassure her without being too obvious. "We'll keep looking, yeah?"

Camilla nodded. Her eyes didn't give away her emotions, but Elsie knew that the woman wasn't one to leave her feelings out in the open.

They continued on, and Elsie noticed the normal wall was now curving when it previously appeared to be straight.

"We must be reaching the east end of the stadium," Camilla said when Elsie voiced her observation. "The initial attack probably came from somewhere above us."

Elsie was shocked. She had been sitting near the center of the long side of the stands, a few levels lower from where they fell through. She knew the stadium was huge; she just didn't realize it would take them that long to walk half the length, even with obstacles and injuries. And that the damage to the stadium was this extensive.

"I didn't realize that this much of the stands collapsed," Elsie said. If the attack was really meant for her, she hoped no one else got caught in the crossfire.

"The other guardians must have tried to capture the attackers, so the damage is expected," Camilla explained. She didn't seem as phased by it as Elsie was, probably because it was a common sight in her normal line of work.

Soon after, Camilla stopped suddenly in her tracks. Elsie was worried that her injury was acting up again, until she noticed the woman staring intently at the dim flame in her hand. Instead of burning straight up, it was now leaning to their right.

There was a draft coming from somewhere. Most likely, it was coming from the outside. From freedom.

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