[Rinrou]

“I wasn’t always like this, Nic.” Laurel continued quietly, “When it first started, I fought it. I was lost myself when my mom left but I couldn’t fall apart. I had a little sister and a father who checked out of the world. I... I tried to defend myself but when I stood up to him, he turned to... to my little sister." Laurel swallowed, "She was so tiny, Nic. Like a little bird. She couldn't handle it so I let him take it out on me instead. And of course I hated him at first but then my mind tried to find a way of... justifying what I was allowing him to do. And my thoughts got so dark... and I remember it hit me one day that I was the cause of my parents' unhappiness." This would sound familiar to Nic. "I was the reason for their pain... the reason that my father had given up on the world. The reason why my mother had left. If I had just been a better daughter. If I had been kinder or been more helpful. If I had never been conceived... none of it would have happened. Without me my mom wouldn't have been banished from her family... without me my father and mother could have continued on in their happy relationship unnoticed and undisturbed. Without me my sister would have never been born and if she would have never been born then she would have never had her heart broken and would never have killed herself. I got to a point, Nic, where I honestly believed that I should have never existed." she stated seriously. "And... the guilt of existing only to cause my parents pain, allowed me to continued taking the beating silently and willingly." There was a surprising lack of emotion on Laurel's face as she ended.

Frei shrugged.