“I don't think ‘alive’ is a good word for it. The Dark One ‘exists.’ And it's so big and so empty . . ." Jane started to babble about what had happened in that hole in the ground.

About what it said to her and how it hurt her. Talia had counseled many a battered woman in her day, but nothing like this. Talia and Red were getting a blow by blow account of what it meant to lose your soul. But Jane didn't remember much of anything after the Shoggoth had uttered that fateful phrase. She remembered the fight, and she remembered crawling up towards the surface. Neither Red nor Talia felt Like explaining what had happened next.

Talia mulled things over in her head carefully before speaking.

“Jane, I need you to stay calm and listen to what I have to say. When the Hellspawn attacked the first time, I know you were thinking about your stepfather when you lost it. You were thinking about him again when you were defending Red against the Swarm, and that's what set you off when you were facing the Dark One. Jane, you can't let him haunt you like this!" Talia tried inserting some more compassion in her voice. Just mentioning the stepfather had caused Jane serious anguish.

"The things that have happened to you for the last seven years . . . some things you LET happen . . . it's all because you're still afraid of him."

"Of course I'm afraid!" Jane shouted, her eyes flashing black before (thankfully) returning to normal.

"I can still feel him pushing me down . . . I can still hear him saying how it would only hurt for a moment, and I can still feel him . . ." Jane started to weep uncontrollably. She still screamed . . . deep in her thoughts were no one could hear, whenever she thought back to that moment. All the things he had done before that . . . all the presents he had bought her to keep her quiet couldn't silence the pain she had carried with her for so long. She had run across the country to escape its voice, only to find his echo come from the hollow voice of an ancient evil.

Jane's blood-shot eyes weren't focused on anything in particular, but she felt Red's closeness and could feel those eyes on the back of her neck.

"It was only supposed to hurt for a moment," she uttered.

"So why does it still hurt so much?"

Jane looked helpless, Red looked furious, and Talia desperately wanted to make everything better. The Strays needed both Red and Jane back at one-hundred percent, and neither would reach that goal without each other.

“Healing takes more than time," Talia said, sitting on the corner of the bed.

"It takes effort. You've been too busy running. You've tried finding someone else to take the hurt away. And more people hurt you along the way. You've got to stop running Jane."

Jane's eyes met Red's, but the lycanthrope gave her no sign of what she should do. Red knew that her best friend was right.

"Jane," Talia continued, "we need you. You've got power, and we'll need it to defeat the Shoggoth when it comes back."

"I can't," Jane cried.

“How can I help against that? I don't even know how I did it the last time! How can I stand against it when I couldn't . . ." Then Jane stopped, her face inscrutable.

"I can't stay," she whispered.

Talia sighed.

"You can't run away anymore. I told you...”

“I'm not running away. This . . . it all started when I ran away.

You were right. How can I stand against anything when I could never stand up . . . to him? I have to go home. I've got to face him."

With that said, Jane felt . . . peace.

Red and Talia were both taken slightly aback.