He can tell, even at a glance, that she's frustrated.
Of course she is. When going over her plan again and again, Essa only has two moods: triumphant or frustrated.
"What's the issue?" Aiden asks.
She slams her fist down on the tabletop, only a few inches from where he's sitting. He's not even pretending to be following along as she schemes, sitting idly on a desk and letting his mind wander.
Essa jabs a finger at the large paper spread in front of her. A brief glance at it tells him that this is how she anticipates the 6th timeline playing out, without intervention. "There's too many people. I'm not sure how this is going to go down. It would be easy enough to just take Lukas's place, but I need him. But if I'm there, and the Prime trusts me, the others might push him out..."
"You just need to figure out how to present yourself." He suggests lazily.
She shoots a dark-eyed glare at him. A jolt of déjà-vu hits him, and he remembers when he first joined her side, after the Sky City mess. Back then, he'd been the one glowering murderously, and she'd been the eerily calm advice-giver.
"I know how I'm presenting myself. I've got that in the bag. I just need to make sure Lukas stays in the picture as well..." she mutters, and quickly reaches over to snag a pencil.
Aiden leans back a bit, watching her feverishly scribble out a few sentences. The anxiety of putting this plan into motion seems to have been getting to her the past few weeks. She's been more and more irritable, and seems jumpier than usual.
"What are you going to do if you fail?" He asks softly.
She pauses in her writing, lifting her head to meet his eyes. There's a small stretch of quiet, and then she lets out a quiet huff of laughter.
"If I fail." Essa murmurs. "If I fail. I'll tell you what, Aiden. If I fail, I'm going to burn down this whole fucking world. Destroy it all, Farlands to Farlands. Leave behind nothing but ash and corpses. You see if I don't."
He adjusts his position slightly. Her response to this question is never exactly the same, but it's usually something along those lines. "Am I invited? To that whole burning down the world thing? Or are you planning to make me one of said corpses?"
His voice is lighter than the words might imply. They've been here before, several times over.
She half-laughs again. "You're invited. Your city-destroying talents could actually come in handy here."
They look at each other for a few moments, the temporary humour quickly fading.
"I'm not going to fail." Essa says seriously, returning to her writing.
"You're not." he agrees. Her eyes flick briefly up to him again, and she smiles slightly as she erases part of a sentence. She seems a touch calmer now, which was his intention with starting up this little game again.
He doesn't say it, but he believes she can do this. She has to.
Because if she doesn't, he knows she's not exaggerating.
If she fails, the world will know her wrath. And there won't be a thing he can do to stop it.
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I was editing Parallels a couple nights ago and I suddenly wanted to do a quick drabble about Essa and Aiden
For a while, they really did have a good friendship. But Essa ended up so fearful and angry, and Aiden started doubting what kind of future he really wanted, and...well, you'll see how it ends. Whether she wins or loses is gonna have a big influence on their relationship as well- either way could destroy them completely or put them back together.