If some work is beyond even your power, then how can I possibly take on a share?

That nightmare still comes to mind, even now. My life denied by some grand ecology... no, not denied. It would admit everything, it was more sublime than life itself... it made me feel shame at the selfishness of life.

I don't want to belittle the Medical Department's effort, but I don't believe life can be 'cured' like a disease. Human or Sea Terror, I'm doomed to live on as half-baked, and that's the price I pay for my own foolishness.

That special 'collaborator' of yours is just something other right now, using biological function to imitate his old form, and you should know that better than him. You're still seeking possibilities in him? I hope you aren't repeating my mistakes.

I've felt at ease in my time residing aboard the landship, even come to recognize it as a feeling similar to my long-lost home... You don't need to be concerned. Even if Iberia will never be a home to the Ægir, I'd never refuse to execute my responsibilities there, such as we've agreed.

Anything that seems to be given for free will eventually demand some price of you. That's the lesson I learned. And some of what you do appears to practically overturn that... I'll have to wait and see.

You're wondering what this song is? It's just something my mother taught me when I was young. I didn't take much interest back then, only humming perfunctory notes to follow along. It was only after losing her, I realized... these melodies form one of the few things I still have to my name.

An ignorant girl gives up her song, and gains naught but a dream snuffed as quickly as the foam in return. It sounds just like a fairytale, doesn't it? And the fact that such a stupid girl could be saved at the story's end... seems like a fairytale, too.

You've helped me recover the courage to trust in other beings, so I hope you see this responsibility through. Lead those willing to follow you, and put an end to those disasters that should never have befallen the innocent. Please, don't disappoint me.

You see them in your dreams too, don't you? All those faces who've quietly left your life.

So, you'd be the 'Doctor'. I don't have much to introduce about myself. If I'm standing here, you must have read and approved all the files about me.

Maybe I shouldn't doubt the value of these records, like I did before.

The more you seek from a power you should reject, the deeper you fall into it. Eventually, it will engulf your entire being. You understand this, don't you?

You wish to forge a space that can admit me, and hope for me to admit everything surrounding me...? An arrogant notion, truly. But maybe I could bear witness with you, until the day you give up.

Looks like we've gotten our approvals. It's time to go.

I might bring their ruin, but only you can bring our victory.

Let us reap those naive delusions and immature obsessions.

I hear the sound of the flooding tide.

Do you have instructions for me?

Do I still have to wait?

As you ask.

I have no doubt.

They have no position to evade.

They have no power to withstand.

They have no way to advance.

They have no path to escape.

Sometimes, your grasp of the surrounding situation makes me instinctually fearful. Yes, I believe you could make even Sea Terrors comprehend fear. So, do you intend to feel happy about this?

The waves have subsided. If you have no other tasks, I should leave immediately to undergo a 'routine' inspection.

Were you showing mercy? Are enemies of this level worth your indulgence?

We should go. Before the next wave has us drowned.

So this, too, is the place you promise I can belong.

Did you need me?

This place might be more... calming than expected.

Arknights.

I don't expect much for the new year, nor do I want to. I just want to take a walk around and see whether anything's changed, compared to my memories of the last year. If it won't bore you, I don't mind you accompanying me.

We still have some time, before the tide floods the soil beneath us.

Does Rhodes Island's intent to cure Oripathy stem from its mission as a healer, or its core members' self-interest as Infected? Now, under this starry sky, another threat has appeared to endanger us all. What will Rhodes Island do? You already have an answer, don't you, Doctor?