There was no smooth transition between sleeping, lost in dreams, nightmares, for what seemed like forever and suddenly -

- The feeling of something hissing, the sensation of something humming, sounds louder, sharper, angrier than anything created from dreams. And there was the light, the startling realization that-

- when Ennea truly opened her eyes for the first time in two months, she could barely see. It was just as if she had woken from the pod the first time, all senses dulled, painful. Yet this time, there was something else.

A memory. Regret. Shame.

There was a sharp hiss as pod room door slid closed, a set of deliberate footsteps moving down the hallway.