[ And just like earlier when he stepped into range and made it real, Felix is the one who puts distance between them. Not much, but enough to note. Enough that it ought to matter. Ephemera breathes out slow and tries to pull apart the part of him that - strangely, inexplicably - morns the loss.

It's quiet still. Maybe that's all he wanted. Quiet in the midst of all this goddamn chaos.

Ephemera turns on his heel, watching Felix. Wondering how the fuck they got to this place where they can talk about the inevitable outcome where one of them dies. Or even just Felix. It won't last, but then not much does around here. He wonders if that counts as suicide.

Breathe out, soldier. Remember where you are.

Silently, he tugs his helmet off. Breathes unfiltered oxygen. He motions with his hand at the cigarettes. ]

Give me one.

[ What a mess this is. What a brutal, bloody mess. And this time, they haven't even hit each other. ]

I figured you'd kill me on Chorus.

[ It's said simply. No muss, no fuss. A looming inevitability - that's the phrasing Felix used. It fits as well as anything. ]

You or Locus. Figured you'd try, anyway. Just a means to an end, right? I wouldn't have taken it personally. You do what you've gotta do. And you two were just - noise on my comms. Something I had to maneuver around, pretend to be half a person. All I needed was that armor and then I had it.

[ He's fairly certain they regretted taking him on after that, with how he ignored mission briefings and anything not directly related to his means and his ends. What could it matter?

It hadn't. Not to him, not in that place. It couldn't. ]

You think you're crazy?