"You wanted me to find evidence of your guilt?"
"I wanted you to find evidence. Whether you'd see guilt or something else was up to you." His thumb brushes my lower lip. "You chose guilt. Not surprising, given your need for a villain."
"You are a villain. Those notes."
"Are from three hundred years of hunting the Collector. Some his original work, some my attempts to understand his process. All kept to track patterns, find weaknesses." His eyes burn into mine. "Did you notice the dates? How my annotationsget more desperate over time? How they shift from academic interest to horror?"
"I saw conflicting notes. Some about reversal attempts, all marked as failed. Others that seemed like... collaboration. I couldn't tell what was real."
"You saw centuries of desperate attempts to understand and stop him." His form flickers with emotion. "I failed every time. Your sister was the two hundred and forty-seventh victim I couldn't save."
"The dreams showed you taking notes while she died."
"The bond doesn't lie, but it doesn't always show complete truth either. You saw what your mind expected to see, a monster observing suffering." He releases my wrists but doesn't move off me. "Would you like to see what really happened?"
"More lies?"
"No. Truth. Unfiltered. But it will hurt."
I meet his burning eyes. "Show me."
He presses his palm to my forehead, and I'm pulled into his memory completely.
I am Nezavek, arriving at the Collector's latest gallery. The smell hits first: crystal and terror and the specific frequency of conscious suffering. Twelve women, all partially or fully crystallized, all aware.
I search for the newest victim, the one that might still be saved. There, a young woman, maybe twenty-two, crystal creeping up her torso. Her eyes are still mobile, still human.
"Please," she gasps when she sees me. "Please help me."
I pour void energy into her, trying to reverse the crystallization. It resists, fights back, continues its inexorable climb.
"I can't stop it," I tell her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Then kill me," she begs. "Please. Before I'm trapped."
I raise my hand to grant her mercy, but she grabs it with her one remaining human arm.
"Wait. You're him. The Shadow Walker. The one hunting the Collector."
"Yes."
"My sister. Yorika. She'll come for me." Her grip tightens. "Tell her it wasn't her fault. Tell her I chose to come to the market. Tell her to be happy."
"I'll tell her."
"Promise me something else." The crystal reaches her throat. "Promise you'll help her kill him. Don't let her do it alone. She'll try, but she'll die. Promise me."
"I promise."
Her last words are barely a whisper: "Tell her I love her."
Then the crystal claims her voice, her movement, everything but her awareness. Her eyes stare at me, pleading, terrified, grateful, and utterly trapped.
I stay with her for three hours, talking to her, telling her about her sister's strength, about how I'll find Yorika and keep my promise. I stay until the Collector returns and forces me to flee.
The memory releases me, and I'm sobbing.
"You tried to save her."
