[hr][center][h3][May 14th, 2043 - Templar Tower - Aerie University][/h3][/center][hr]

Yue tried to breathe. The impact absorbing gel layer of her suit hadn't been enough. Nor the armor, which had practically shattered. Her lungs burned. She couldn't feel her left side. Static erupted over the still functioning half of her visor as the flash compensator attempted to tune out the knife of light stabbing aggressively through the dust, nearly blinding the eye her smashed helmet no longer protected.

Thump.

She was aware of noise through the tinnitus. A voice. Discordant screaming drove her to move through the grinding of bone and the sharp [i]prick[/i] of numbness in her ribs. The paper-doll damage readout flashed [color=f7941d]orange[/color] and [color=ed1c24]red[/color] urgently as she pushed herself up. Scrolling characters she couldn't make out through the spiderweb cracks rolled across the screen. Most likely a list of everything that was broken.

[i]Thump![/i]

The air was thick with the smell of wet copper and dust. Her hands were slick with blood. Eyes raked the surroundings frantically. A kid? Student. Evacuation missed someone? For a short eternity she just stared, trying to pull herself into the present. Arms, legs... a not insignificant portion of their torso, all crushed beneath the rubble and lacerated with glass and steel. Bleeding. Couldn't move them, the weight of the rubble might be the only thing preventing them from bleeding out.

[b]THUMP!![/b]

The light behind her blotted out. Ice water poured down her spine. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move, she was the only thing between the monster and this civilian who was screaming for her to do [i]something[/i], [i]anything[/i] because... he didn't want to die anymore. The monster spoke. Voice like shifting gravel in an earthquake.

[center][color=8493ca]Are you really gonna [i]let[/i] me kill all these people?
All you have to do
is step down out of your ivory tower...
Show the world you're just as rotten inside
as everybody else.
What's it gonna be, [i][b]P̶͑ͅr̴̩̃ị̷̯̞͗͛n̵̢̓c̸̺̣̓̂è̷̳̜͓s̶͕̔s̶͖̈́[/b][/i]?[/color][/center]

Yue forced herself to take a breath. It slashed the back of her throat. Her lungs ached. Those familiar thorns squeezed her heart. Bolts of [Crimson] raked over her arms and every fiber of muscle in her shoulders [i]coiled.[/i]

[center][color=#CE2B95]Right. Present Day.[/color][/center]

It was just somebody's memorial. Hardcase? Someone she didn't know. Dean was staring at her, hopefully not expecting a response. Yue shook out her hands vigorously until her fingertips tingled, forcing herself to exhale slowly. Raudd was there offering her some kind of fruit, which she accepted and numbly bit into. She was expecting an apple or something, and nearly spit it out.

[b][color=#CE2B95]"The hell?"[/color][/b] She muttered, staring and distracted for just a moment from the lingering dissonance of reliving a traumatic memory. Burgundy eyes flicked between the enormous cherry, to Raudd, to Dean, who was probably expecting an explanation she didn't want to give. She turned on her heels and pushed ahead of the group.

[center][i][color=#CE2B95]Right, because [b]that's[/b] not gonna raise any questions...[/color][/i][/center]

Yue busied herself with walking and eating the cherry rather than say anything, and focused on the tart sweetness to keep from sinking back into her memory of [i]that[/i] day.