❝ don’t worry, no one has. you don’t have to worry. i’m safe. no one has hurt me. really, i’m okay.❞ lie. but it wasn’t with bad intent, they had been trying to comfort her and she may have reacted sourly. she was scared, what if they were just creating false memories for her? like what the kgb did, like what they did to her and how they created charlotte….what if they were just trying to get back someone from the dead simply because she looked like her. she nervously picked at her shirt before giving anna a small smile. ❝ it’s just difficult since i don’t know anything and it’s strange to not know anything. ❞ she was the mermaid, the kgb’s best little spy, the one that was always able to extract the information in some way. to fill in the gaps and holes with words and numbers. ❝ was i? ❞ she wondered that too, she had heard that she was. but she had also heard of the mumbles of how she was just dead weight. of how she was just someone to be a warm body for, that she was just pretty. she was just the glue to bring two of the best weapons together, to bring the team together–she was simply a means to an end. a weapon that was barely one to begin with and yet too much of one to be considered simply a civilian.
The words bring her no comfort. Instead, she furrows her brows and tightens her jaw. There’s something off, something wrong. Perhaps it’s the way in which she keeps repeating the words, trying to assure her. Perhaps it’s a gut feeling. Perhaps it’s something else entirely. Perhaps she’s telling the truth and Anna just can’t tell the difference anymore: she’s been keeping her distance, taking care of her from afar. It’s better that way. She’s always been better off without her, without her weight on her shoulders. Maybe she shouldn’t even be there. She can’t seem to stay away for too long. “Don’t lie to me.” She says, and it’s a mixture between a growl and a soft whisper. A paradox in itself, as everything seemed to be in America. Everything felt wrong and wrecked. Nothing ever seemed to fit. Anna opens her mouth, looking down before taking a deep breath. She doesn’t look up as she says “Know that I’m here. Know that I’m protecting you.” Don’t say anything else. You can’t say anything else. She can’t know. No one can know. “You were a valuable piece. As valuable as Dimitri. As valuable as me. They knew you were able to get more information than anyone.”