Steve leaned against a counter opposite her, so he could give her his full attention, and listened as she told her tale, hands in his pockets so that she hopefully would not pick up on the telltale signs of tension, on how revolted he felt that she had had to live through all this, how unfair it was.

"Or maybe the dying is what you have to go through to get to the better again," Steve answered, after a few seconds of silence. "Death isn't something you can do without, though you shouldn't have had to go through so much of it. And we can't trust this place." These were the facts she already knew. "But if you give up, then death wins. This place wins."