[she nods. this is what she needed - not someone pitying her for it happening, but an acknowledgement it happened at all. someone to understand that it occurred. it colors her, shapes her reactions. makes her reliable under pressure but leaves her on edge. it happened - and yet. she knows there are people who wouldn't leave her to die even if she begged them to. there's no guarantee she'll come back this time.

somehow, that soothes her. it might be so selfish, but she trusts they wouldn't let her do that again. her voice is a whisper, a feather on the breeze.]

...Yes. But I think now, I'm a little happy I kept coming back, even if I wasn't at the time. Even if it felt like endless torture, mindnumbing and senseless, and I wished death would stick to me. I kept coming back, and so, I was alive to meet you.

[terribly sentimental, she knows. yet he should know that even with her nightmares, she's trying to take those small steps out of the shadow of her past. to find things to delight in now. that's the only way she'll make it here.

she gets another chance to attempt living, instead of dying.]

I've never told anyone that much before.

[Hibiki knew her entire without words, engulfing her soul. Eli and Wujiu had lived that life, knew without explanation. to voice it aloud to someone who didn't know? strange. but not the agony she'd expected it to be.]