I sat on the other side of the bars. It would be easy, so, so easy to just turn around and walk out. Pretend that I never came here. Unfortunately, I had not gotten where I was by doing the easy thing.

I took a deep breath, smelling that sterile, too-clean scent of a containment field. We’d actually had a conversation, once, about those. The smell drove me crazy. He hardly minded it.

Or maybe that was just a lie to make future me feel better about throwing him into permanent containment.

It hadn’t worked. I needed to know.

I stood, rapping on the clear bars. The sign for the guards. He couldn’t see me, but I could see him, a sad, raggled pile huddled in the corner, hardly moving. But now, as the one-way view field was dispelled, he could.

”Why.”

At the sound of my voice, his head shot up- and the hope in those eyes cut, like nothing else. But then it was stifled by the dullness of despair… and maybe that should’ve hurt more. It didn’t.

”Why did you do it.”

I could still remember the sting of betrayal, even after all these years. It festered, an infected wound that time could hardly touch. I could see his reasoning, now, as much as it pained me to admit it, even to myself. But it still hurt. Betrayal always does.

I lifted my chin, staring him down. In no way did I approve of his decision. In no way did I doubt that his imprisonment was for the best. What else would he do, if left to do what he wished? What other plans of mine would he ruin- plans that wouldn’t have needed to exist if it weren’t for him!

Fire smoldered in my gaze. I would have the truth out of him, at any cost. I needed to know why, lest my future plans go astray in such a manner. I needed to know.

”Why didn’t you kill me?”