[i]The fuzz of static stops for one blessed moment, and Alexa's head is her own again.

Molech takes his time fastidiously straightening out the cover on the icon. Only once the sheet hangs perfectly flat and even does he deign to look down into the parade ground. "Do you know why it's not enough to be obeyed?"

Alexa does not, cannot answer. Any movement right now kicks up the mud, blood, and oil coating the ground, and the mere exertion of standing takes all the effort she has. Every heaving breath costs energy. She doesn't dare move to correct her flagging spearpoint, lest she overbalance and fall face-first into her guilt.

"I could simply command you. And so long as I hold this icon, you would be helpless to disobey."

Don't look down, Alexa. He's talking to you. Focus on him. He is your father, your emperor, your god. So long as you're focusing on him, you're not looking at the carnage around you. You're not listening to the moans you've caused, not smelling the bitter iron swamping the air. Not looking at the faces you've guarded for the past six months. Worship Molech as if your sanity depends on it.

Molech sneers. "And so could anybody else holding this icon. Anybody could command you to turn against me. That may do for an army, but for you? For the perfect warrior, for the perfect guard? For the Pallas Rex?"

He rests his hand on the cover and Alexa's breath hitches. Don't stop looking at him. Don't you dare look at them. Don't think about the time you've spent with them. Don't you dare put names and families and card games and stories told and history to faces. 

Save yourself, you coward.

"I expect you to do better. How many more will you kill before you figure this out, I wonder?"

And the world is static.[/i]

***

Alexa's head swims, lost in the light. The world dims, sounds fade, until all that is left is the soft fuzz and the blissful beauty that is the entire world.

And wouldn't it be nice to stay here? Just sit back, let it happen. Let guarding Redana be somebody else's concern. Let somebody else take the reins. No more anxiety, no more worries, no more questions. Just orders and instantanous obedience. Let someone else assume the burden of what those orders mean for everyone else.

Do it, coward. Save yourself.

There was... Something. She had. Didn't she? Something she needed to. Something she wanted to. To. Erm. 

But the light! It's so beautiful. Just stare at it. Let it make you comfortable, let it teach and lead you. Isn't that more important than whatever you were thinking abou--

Faces knock at her mind. Aren't they important, too? Precious, even? 

Static mounts around her, a growing fog as the icon presses harder against her mind.

She stands, frozen. Then, a weight at her arm drags her attention away from the light.

It's... herself?

No, a reflection. A mirror image, reflected in the glossy surface of the--of [i]her[/i]--shield. 

Isn't that important, too, her traitor mind insists?

And the static shatters. 

And she realizes a number of things in short succession. First, reflections don't usually nod at you before vanishing. You are here, indeed. Second, there are a number of very pressing concerns in the stands around them. Although, third, she has the Aegis again, and what clearer sign of Athena's favor could she ask for?

Fourth, she should be in front of Redana. There is guarding to be done.
(Overcome: 5,4,4+2: 10)