Install dropping stress

As though it were poison, I dropped immediately out of my Install and back into my base Breaker form.

“Oh my god,” I said, horrified. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t even me — Siegfried was the one who — it just kind of slipped out before I could — I didn’t even — oh…”

Exhaustion suddenly hit me like a brick to the face, and as my head throbbed and my muscles ached, my knees shook and gave out from under me. It was like all of the strength in my body had fled with my Install, as though the only thing propping me up had been Siegfried, and the moment I had discarded him, he’d taken all of my energy with him.