Thinks as Khepri

“Make don’t me this do!”

Make you? You mean the way I made you threaten my friends?

She was a fool, if she thought she could intimidate me into surrendering. A bigger fool, if she thought I could be frightened into hesitating, into giving ground, to allow her the upper hand in this fight. I wasn’t scared enough of her, she didn’t have the same sort of impossible, overwhelming presence she’d had the last time she tried it, for it to work.

What was there to be frightened of? After all —

I’ve already killed you once. I can do it again.

I stopped. My thoughts ground to a halt.

What?

I’d already killed Alexandria?

A flash of an interrogation room. Alexandria sat across from me, and next to her, a man, a soldier, who fought every fight as a war. Tagg. Bugs, everywhere, pouring in, swarming, surging into their mouths and down their throats.

Yes. I drowned her on solid land.

Then…how was she still…? Who was I even…?

My brain burned. FIGHT, every instinct was screaming. FIGHT. FIGHT.

Except, who was I fighting, if Alexandria was already dead? How was I fighting her, if I’d already killed her? Why?

It didn’t make any sense. It didn’t make any sense at all.

I gritted my teeth. My skull was suddenly two sizes too small to contain my brain.

No, Alexandria wasn’t who I should be fighting, was she? I couldn’t agree with her methods. Her actions had long skewed too far from what was acceptable. However, in spite of her flaws and her mistakes, in spite of all the horrible things she’d done —

That’s right. The true enemy is —