"You speak as if everything is easy."

"I'm trying my best," Echo shook her head, wiping her eyes. She coughed before continuing.

"I'm trying."

Echo didn't say anything for a moment, staring at the ground. She was surprised by the change of tone, unsure if it was helping more than it weirded her out. But, she could tell Time was trying his best at whatever tone of voice he was doing. 

She looked over at Time, then gave a weak nod, "Okay... at the moment I don't know how, but... but I'll try harder." 

 

Echo looked away from Time to the damage done to the ground from the fight. She closed her eyes, immediate bad thoughts and feelings coming from the sight of the scene. 

Echo tried to set her mind on thinking about the people she cared about, but her own mind only started to worry about those same people. 

"What if I can't protect everyone I care about?" Echo blurted out without thinking, starting to spiral right after. 

"Or what if Octave really does kill someone, or what should I do if Octave starts taking control? Why is she able to control me? Why does she target specifically the people I care about? What if everyone starts hating me because I can't keep control? Maybe they already do? Oh gods-" 

Echo looked up at the sky, stopping herself from continuing for a moment. 

"-I'm... I'm not very good at this whole thinking thing. Maybe I think too much? Do I think too much? Am I over complicating this?" 

 

"Hm... I don't quite understand anything yet." 

"Why all of this is happening, why Octave tries to kill people." 

"It doesn't makes sense..." Echo sighed. 

"Hm..." 

Echo went quiet, trying to figure it out. 

"...Oh..." 

 

"Very twisted, good intention," Echo echoed Time quietly. 

"...I didn't go outside or talk to people," Echo answered. "I isolated myself for a while because I noticed she got louder and tried to take control when I had friends. But after a while my family got worried." 

Echo shrugged. 

"So they started making me go outside and encouraged me to try to talk to people again. They don't really know much about Octave other than that she can take control when I'm upset and stuff. I don't tell them anything about her, so... yea." 

Echo thought for a moment. 

"I brought it up to a... sorta friend of mine. She doesn't live here, though. She visits once in a while to see my brother 'cause they're dating or something. Lillian knows a lot about magic and stuff, and last time I talked to her she said she was trying to figure out what Octave was to figure out how to help me. It's been a while since I've seen her, though. She isn't able to come over much due to work." 

"We end up arguing, so I don't try to anymore," Echo said. "I don't really want to either. I find her annoying, anyway, when she does try to start a conversation first. So...I dunno."