[ roy immediately shifts his weight to make up for hughes' sudden lack of focus, half-carrying the man further down the street. the edges of this magical bullshit hallucination have to be here somewhere, and still, a nasty voice in the back of his head is telling him that hughes is not real. but what if he is -- leaving him is not an option, and at worst, roy will have terrified himself for nothing, and redoubled his fury against shehui.

at best, he's finally saved hughes. ]

I know I do, I know. [ it's said in a quiet aside, mostly just to prove to maes that he is listening, as he pulls him forward. the details of the street are beginning to grow a little fuzzier, a little less there. roy is close to the edge of the bubble, and he presses forward. ] I'm going to rip them all apart and bring it all down, I promise.

[ he's not there, yet. but he's close. ]

You're going to be fine. Focus on that, and I'll kill the son of a bitch who did this to you later.

[ no, he doesn't. it's a bold faced lie. but hughes doesn't need to know the truth, yet. ]

But until then, you're no good to me dead. Understand? I need you here.