Penny’s Reviews > This Is How You Lose the Time War > Status Update

You've always been the hunger at the heart of me, Red - my teeth, my claws, my poisoned apple.

I couldn't know, then - I couldn't, and nor could you - how thoroughly you were already inside me, shielding me from the future.

"Some things matter more than winning."

She looks up, stares, and, broken-throated, laughs.
And then Commandant's legions fall upon her like the night.

The gaze of the girl who would be Blue fixes on her, soft with dreams, trusting. She tastes what she is offered, knows the pain in it, and swallows.

Sometimes you have to hold a person, though they'll mistake embrace for strangulation.

I will write myself into the world, so you will see me throughout all braids and mourn?

No death sticks but the one that matters.

Perhaps survival is its own form of torture.

I loved you. That was true. With what's left of me I can't help but love you still. This is how you win, Red: a long game, a subtle hand played well. You played me like a symphony, and I hope you won't mind my feeling a little proud of you for such a magnificent betrayal.