wefuckedit | i just wanna be useful

No one talks to her, much. But she hears whispers.

"Tethe'alla's Aegis was stolen."

"Now's our chance."

Whispers on every side of her. Either they don't think she's listening, or they don't care that she is.

"Are you sure? We haven't finished testing, we have no idea if either blade will survive the procedure--"

"So? It's not like she works, anyway."

It's not like they've ever cared about her before.

"And what happens if we don't have an Aegis to show, anymore? We'll be the same as Tethe'alla--"

"We've been bluffing about the cannon working for decades. We can bluff about this, too."

They lead her to a room, sparcely decorated, and sit her down at a table. She sits perfectly still and perfectly straight, wanting to please them, appease them, even though nothing about the way she looks or acts is going to make that difference. The thing they want from her is the one thing she can't control. Someone sits down across from her, explains the situation as if she doesn't already know it. She pretends she's listening, but she can't pull her thoughts away from the shards of an emerald green core crystal that sit on the table before her.

The ether around the core crystal feels--broken. Sick. She wonders if the blade dormant inside is suffering. She wonders if they are even aware of their pain.

If she could help them...

(If she could be useful...)

"I'll do it," she says, before they even ask. (Asking is just pleasantries, anyway. She couldn't have said no.)

The person she's talking to seems surprised, though not concerend. "Are you sure?"

(If she never had to bear the weight of being unwanted, imperfect, ever again...

Even if all this got her was oblivion....)

"I'm sure," Colette says.

She has never been more certain of anything in her life.