[Her rage makes his own want to stir back to life. But after fighting it so hard, there just isn't enough energy. There's not enough left in him to let the symbiote loose. A good thing.]
[A very good thing. What she's saying makes a lot of things ripple through his mind. Remembering his own meeting with Elena...]
[someone worth helping -- he knows she doesn't mean it. He knows it. But the words, the sudden flicker of something else. They ring hard in his head and in his memories of a monster like you -- and she isn't the only one flinching]
[... How much he suddenly, painfully understood where she was coming from. Her voice in his mind, knowing with absolute certainty she meant what she said -- I'd never forgive myself if I hurt someone here -- how the sentiment mirrored his own feelings.]
[Pidge's voice, angry, determined, "I know you'd never hurt anyone!"]
(You both. Have points.) [Words are careful, chosen slowly, between ragged breaths and a racing pulse.] (No one should have to be tied to something they hate. But... none of us can help it. None of us can change it.)
[A memory beyond ragged shields. The moments in which he'd thought he'd been tied to one of his own personal demons, yellow eyes gleaming in the dark. That one of them was in his head. The horror and anger.]
(But -- Rani. What hurts one of us... it hurts everyone. We know that. He knows that. Elena...) [And he hesitates. But god he respects her. Like a lightning rod in a storm -- that's her in his mind.] (People like Elena and I... are trying. To be more than what we were made to be.)
[His shielding is ragged. Too strung out to keep memories away from her. To keep away the vague glimpses of the gruesome aftermath of thinking there was a Galra tied into his head. Where he'd lost himself completely. A monster...]
(No one. Is killing anyone. No one who's trying to be something more... and not you, and not Sam.)
this got long i am sorry
[A very good thing. What she's saying makes a lot of things ripple through his mind. Remembering his own meeting with Elena...]
[someone worth helping -- he knows she doesn't mean it. He knows it. But the words, the sudden flicker of something else. They ring hard in his head and in his memories of a monster like you -- and she isn't the only one flinching]
[... How much he suddenly, painfully understood where she was coming from. Her voice in his mind, knowing with absolute certainty she meant what she said -- I'd never forgive myself if I hurt someone here -- how the sentiment mirrored his own feelings.]
[Pidge's voice, angry, determined, "I know you'd never hurt anyone!"]
(You both. Have points.) [Words are careful, chosen slowly, between ragged breaths and a racing pulse.] (No one should have to be tied to something they hate. But... none of us can help it. None of us can change it.)
[A memory beyond ragged shields. The moments in which he'd thought he'd been tied to one of his own personal demons, yellow eyes gleaming in the dark. That one of them was in his head. The horror and anger.]
(But -- Rani. What hurts one of us... it hurts everyone. We know that. He knows that. Elena...) [And he hesitates. But god he respects her. Like a lightning rod in a storm -- that's her in his mind.] (People like Elena and I... are trying. To be more than what we were made to be.)
[His shielding is ragged. Too strung out to keep memories away from her. To keep away the vague glimpses of the gruesome aftermath of thinking there was a Galra tied into his head. Where he'd lost himself completely. A monster...]
(No one. Is killing anyone. No one who's trying to be something more... and not you, and not Sam.)
(Please.)