"So how the fuck does this make sense?" Hayne couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of this situation.

Though that was more of a rhetorical question, Ian actually bothered to answer.

"I assure you, Hayne, this makes perfect sense. Logic in the mathematical sense is a rule that can't be bent by anyone, unfortunately. Since everything is, in theory, explainable with maths, so must be this situation, right?"

Hayne shot him a slightly confused glance, not sure on how to answer to what she thought of a particularly vivid hallucination caused by her wrecked brain.

Noticing her expression, Ian couldn't help but feel exhilarated for a brief moment. Quite a while ago, well, a very long while ago, he bore that same expression once, in a situation surprisingly similar to this one. Only with Vikings, dinosaurs and a burning castle, instead of Admirals and electricity and obliterated spaceships.

Tomato, tomato, he thought.

"It's okay, I don't really understand everything either" he tried to comfort her. He really didn't understand EVERYTHING, after all. Just an amount very close to that.

".." Hayne still didn't know how to respond, but she already began regaining her senses. Because, she thought, even at the maximum processing speed of the human brain, a hallucination this detailed and over that period of time, almost minutes now, became more unlikely by the second. Also, she felt totally clear in her head, except a slight dull pain where her head burst the glass of her helmet.

While it was totally possible, still, that she laid somewhere in the corner, babbling two parts of a conversation that made no sense, none at all, it was also possible, that this was.. real. Or at least, a hallucination that existed not only inside her head but affected part of reality around as well, however that made sense.

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She decided to pull herself together, assume this to be real, assume Ian and his favor to be real, and ultimately, assume the chance to somehow cheat herself out of this unsurvivable situation to be real as well.

After all, there wasn't really anything else she could do, that would help. If this wasn't real, she was dead anyway. If she was already dead, it was too late anyway. So, thumbs up for Ian Cer!

"So, this favor you owe me. Care to tell me what that whole thing is about?" Though she tried to sound confident, her voice faltered a bit towards the end.

Of course, Ian recognized that fact. So she was grateful, that he, at least for the moment, ignored it. Instead, he started to talk.

The longer he talked, the wider Hayne's eyes grew.

Suddenly, brain damage was right back on the table. Nevermind that someone who didn't age the last forty years just happened to appear out of thin air, stopping the world and shit. That suddenly wasn't even the issue. Compared to what she just heard, it was downright plausible even.

"..So, I decided to save you from this shitty happenstance here and now. You know, kinda. As I just told you, cheating fate isn't really possible. Not with conventional methods, anyway. Logic always applies, remember? So, you up for it Hayne, or what?"

Then, he simply fell silent, awaiting an answer.

Hayne froze with a dumb smile plastered on her face.

Great, I broke her mind, Ian thought.

But then, activity found its way back into Hayne's body. The smile stopped in an instance, being replaced by a serious look.

"First of all, call me Elena. Second of all, I accept, of course. Not that there is much of a choice between.. that.. and death, is there?" This time, her voice didn't falter, not for the briefest moment. Instead, determination soaked the words she spoke.

"Alrighty then, Elena." Ian spoke in a faked childish voice, but not in any way less serious than her. "Off you pop." With a laugh, he wished away the world with his hand.

Hayne stared into the void behind reality for a blip of an instance, before unstoppable tiredness flooded her mind, drowning her conscious self completely.

Ian then wished the world back whole, reality stitching itself back together where he moved his hand, while he stared at the place where Hayne had disappeared.

"Yeah, that's what i call paying off a debt." He spoke to no one, a sly grin growing on his face. "Take care, Elena Hayne."

The moment he turned to leave, events occurred again, as if remembering that things used to happen, instead of not.

Without transition, the nigh almighty finger lodged into the clock of everything withdrew and time pressed onward, yet again.