When Villains Rise

The kind of break that stemmed from too much loss and betrayal, and you could either let the world break you or you could storm through the world and fill the cracks with the blood of those who'd hurt you until you were a semi-balance of whole again.

Is that blood? Are you literally drinking the blood of your enemies now?' 'Yes.' She passed him the bottle. 'Want some?' 'Yes.' He took a long swig

I made some mistakes. If I had a chance to do it over, knowing what I know now, I'd change some of my plans," Nita admitted, the words sticking a little in her throat. "But I don't know that I regret the choices I made. They seemed right at the time, and I learned a lot from them." •pg.80 - Nita

She wondered if it was impossible to be all of yourself at the same time, because yourself was too complicated. So people broke it down into bits and pieces and wore some of them some days and others different days.

One day,someone will have more anger then fear, and they will come, and they will kill him- and on the day, I will light a candle for the loss of a friend who could have been, and then I will celebrate the death of the monster that was.

...not even bones, only ashes remained when Nita rose. Not even her mother could put herself back together after being blown to literal smithereens.

Anytime a Zannie is the only one enjoying a situation,you know something has gone terrible wrong.

Sometimes it was hard to reconcile that all the different facets of Kovit were the same person.

But not even bones, only ashes remained when Nita rose.

I'm not responsible for your choices, Nita. You chose to be what you are.

Kovit's smile was deeply amused. "You're living in a fantasy world. I eat pain, and that scares people." "Sure it does. But lots of people are scary-- terrorists, fascists, racists. That doesn't mean they're not human, much as some people might wish." Fabricio's eyes met Kovit's. "You're a sentient, thinking being. You choose who you hurt, and if you hurt someone." Fabricio made a frustrated noise. "You're not a fucking avalanche mowing down everything in its path.

So you see, Nita, to some extent, all our interactions are manipulations of some sort or another. We're all playing a part, and how we deal with people is a trick to show them what part we want them to think we're playing." •pg.184 - Fabricio

The world isn't fair, Kovit." Nita pressed her forehead to his. "Maybe you do deserve to die. Maybe you're irredeemably evil. But I don't care, and neither does the world. And God damn it, I'm not going to let INHUP take you from me." •pg.170 - Nita

She didn't ask herself what could have been, because Kovit was right. Asking what-ifs about people stole their agency for the choices they made in this life. But what could be. That was another question." •pg.89 - Nita's thoughts

But Kovit? Kovit has you. And how long he has you, I don't know. One day, someone will have more anger than fear, and they will come, and they will kill him." Gold's gaze was steady. "And on that day, I will light a candle for the loss of the friend who could have been, and then I will celebrate the death of the monster that was." •pg.49 - Gold

But a dark, frightened part of her whispered that the most violent hate is born from the tightest love. And betrayal." •pg.213 - Nita's thoughts

Sometimes, she felt like both of them were damned no matter what they did, good or bad. That any choice they made led to ruin. But she couldn't let herself think that way. There's always a way to victory. Always a path to survival. Maybe it was ugly and painted in blood and grief, but it was there. She believed it. She had to believe it." •pg.199 - Nita's thoughts

Perhaps not consciously. But every interaction you have, every decision you make, all of that is subconsciously determined by who you want people to see you as. Or what you want to hide. Or how you want people to perceive others." •pg.183-184 - Fabricio

She'd been scared Kovit would crumble, and while his cracks were large, she trusted he would pick himself up and sharpen the broken edges into weapons." •pg.95 - Nita's thoughts

He swallowed heavily, and just under the surface, that broken, shattered look lurked, trying to press through his thin veneer of composure. But now she could see it wasn't a fatal break, it was the kind of break that was in her own soul too. The kind of break that stemmed from too much loss and betrayal, and you could either let the world break you or you could storm through the world and fill the cracks with the blood of those who'd hurt you until you were a semblance of whole again. Maybe not the same person, but still you, still alive, still moving forward on your own." •pg.94-95 - Nita's thoughts

Nita could still hear the snap of Henry's neck as Kovit broke it. It was echoed by a snap in Kovit's soul as he broke something in himself doing it.

Kovit goes around doing terrible things and eventually those things will come back for him. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow,but there will always be someone out there with more hate then logic who will try to kill him.

I'm not ready to die yet.I may be evil, I may deserve what IHUP plans to do to me,but I don't care.I want to live.

Looking at Fabricio meant facing her own part in his screams. It meant facing that she didn't actually feel bad about what she did.

Brains are weird like that. It’s common to gloss over the bad things, or think it wasn’t all bad after it’s over. It’s not like you can actually go back and look and see what the reality was anymore.

But lots of people are scary - terrorists, fascists, racists. That doesn’t mean they’re not human, much as some people might wish.

Brains are weird like that. It's common to gloss over the bad things, or think it wasn't all bad after it's over. It's not like you can actually go back and look and see what the reality was anymore.