Ellie didn't know what was going on. She couldn't describe it; sounds, sights, smells -- they all eluded her, preventing her from focusing in on anything. It was an uneasy, uncomfortable limbo; stuck in a bubble with no way out. Where had she been? Where was she now? The subway tunnel. She could recall that. Joel had gone behind her across the old train car when the weight shift had disturbed it's resting place against the current. She'd barely managed to clamber on the platform when the train gave way and Joel fell through a set of doors. In her panic, she had jumped right back onto it. But as she tried to pry the doors open, the train's bottom caught beneath the water, and then... "Marlene, we have to--" Ellie's attention snapped to the words that broke through; words that were not spoken out of memory. Marlene? She's here? Suddenly feeling a bit more awake -- a bit more alive -- she was not deaf to the shuffle of papers somewhere in the background. The girl is vaguely aware of her body, but she doesn't feel it. She doesn't feel her arm being turned over and examined for the millionth time, or the prick of a needle in her other. She doesn't feel the cold, harsh metal that they've placed her on to run tests, not even bothering to support her head with a pillow or anything else to make her comfortable should she wake. All she had to cling to for now was her hearing. Marlene said something that Ellie couldn't quite catch, and the reply was slow to come. "....Please don't be unreasonable about this, ma'am." The words showed submission, but the underlying tone was ordering, almost threatening. A subtle warning that she should stop opposing whatever he was suggesting. Ellie felt the small, slithering feel of what would have been a scalpel taking even more tissue from her arm. It sent chills up her spine -- something that she found she was rather more comforted feeling than nothing at all. Slowly, ever slowly, she was coming to her senses. "....After all we've been through..." Marlene said slowly, quietly, as if saying it any louder would prove disastrous, "Everything that I've done..." Ellie thought she sounded rather tired. Which, was per usual for what she remembered from Marlene -- tired, struggling to figure out the loops and ends of caring for a group as large as hers, to keep them hopeful. That was Marlene's entirety. The Fireflies were everything to her. A note of resignation sounded as she finally conceded. "It can't be for nothing." "Thank you, Marlene." The man replied, sounding relieved. There were a few, low murmurs between he and another individual, too quiet and jumbled for Ellie to hear, and suddenly she felt exhausted all over again. Part of her knew it was drug induced; whether from the needle in her arm or the mask being pressed over her face by a nurse. The other half of her was just worn out -- how long before this would all end? How long before she could resurface, be done with it all? The journey had been so long, so hard already. She suddenly didn't feel like doing it anymore. But now, she didn't have a choice. She could only hope Marlene was making the right ones.
Faintly, she hears it. Just before the medicine pulls her back down, she hears it. "...I'll go tell the smuggler."
