Vanna: You… Need to get FAR away from here. As soon as you can. They’ll find you if you hide… you need to RUN.
Vanna gets herself standing and stumbles over to one of the lab cupboards. She leans heavily against the counter and opens the cabinet, revealing a red backpack with a triangle pattern stitched into the handle. The ghosts all watch, almost curious, reaching for her, even when they’ve picked her clean as a bone.
Vanna: …This… emergency pack… It… has everything you need… to survive a little while… out at sea…
As she reaches for the bag, her arm starts to pixelate. Flakes of white and gray flesh seeming to evaporate from her. It’s just like the fish Pavel had fed to the seaghosts way back at the aquifer. Alabaster flesh and pink eyes dissolving into thin air.
Vanna: Grab your paddleboard… And dress for the cold… Travel toward a safe island. Find shelter. There’s… a radio inside the pack-- call for help… when the fog is gone…
Before she can fully pull the bag down, her grip on the counter slips and she collapses back to the ground, the pack falling down with her, clutched in her determined fingers.
Vanna: Some kind soul out there will find you and help you… I’m sure of it-- AGH…!
Pavel: MOM!
Pavel leaps from his place on the floor to her side, dashing through the patch cleared of ghosts to reach her. He’s crying in full now, tears streaming across his cheeks. More than just Vanna’s arms are flaking away now.
Pavel: Don’t move around so much. You gotta rest! I’ll get you out of here. I promise. I…I…promise…
He holds her face in his small hands now, and she reaches up to brace her fingers against his wrist. Holding onto him however she can. She’s crying too, he can see now. And her eyes are as pink as his. Chunks are missing from her skin where she’s already wasted away. But she holds his gaze, and she holds his hand, and she makes sure he knows how important he is.
Vanna: Be strong…My little Lodestar…I love you so much…More than you could imagine… No matter what they do to me, I will ALWAYS be your mother.
