It was a struggle to wake up. The surroundings weren't familiar, but Andromeda knew exactly where she was. She had expected to wake up in a worse place than some kind of hospital room.
She had been gone from her body for a year or less—or more, depending on how long ago her encounter with the Lucian king had been. It didn't feel any different, albeit she hadn't felt so grounded in so long. Tubes and wires more or less kept her trapped in the bed, assuring those who watched over Andromeda that she wasn't dying in her coma. She wondered if they would be notified if she started to take them all off herself.
She raised a hand to poke at the IV injected in the back of her other hand, then stopped.
Her hand was completely black. The darkness ran up her forearm, splintering off halfway into veins that reached all the way up the rest of her arm. The shirt she now wore hid whatever there was on her shoulder.
Andromeda's personal crystal was gone; she didn't have to check her pants to know that they didn't have pockets. No one would let her keep it on hand. Was Verstael planning to see how long it would take for her to turn into a daemon?
As if on cue, one of his nondescript lab assistants entered the room. Andromeda had already pulled the stickers from her chest. Those hadn't hurt. The rest, having been underneath her skin, did as the lab assistant removed them.
Once she moved away to dispose of the needle and tubing, Andromeda tried to get out of bed herself. Everything she did felt weighted down. She had been gone from her body too long. She ended up flopping onto the floor.
The lab assistant was suddenly there to pull her back up to the bed. "You're not going anywhere just yet."
Andromeda was seated on the bed again. The lab assistant checked her eyes with a flashlight pen. She then helped her stand and take a few steps, avoiding the infected arm. It was all Andromeda could think about. She had never seen someone turn into a daemon, but there were countless horror stories about it. The worst part was the person didn't exactly die.
She was allowed to take a few shambling steps by herself, getting a grip on her own body again. The lab assistant didn't seem to think she would make progress so fast. Once Andromeda seemed steady, she was rushed out of the room and through the halls. She wasn't quite ready to walk so fast. It made her realize that escape was not possible yet.
Like her previous stay at the lab, Andromeda was lost in the many hallways. She was taken to an empty room and left alone. She didn't bother to check the door, knowing it was locked. There was no one-way window in one of the walls. It seemed as if no one was watching.
It wasn't a long wait before someone arrived. Verstael had been one of two people she expected, but the large chunk of quartz he carried was a surprise. Not only had Ardyn seen that she could heal the Starscourge, but he had seen how she could do it. He must have passed the information on to Verstael. For once, their plotting would help Andromeda.
All of his past formalities were gone now—even that smile she hated. He simply thrust the crystals into her hands. "Show me."
There was no sense in trying to deny what she could do, especially if doing so would kill her one way or another. She didn't hesitate to grasp the large crystal and focus on the festering darkness in herself. It was much easier to pull it out of someone else and send it into a waiting crystal. The Starscourge had settled in like sludge during her coma. Luckily it was already in her arm, or else it would have taken much longer to reach the crystal.
Andromeda's skin lightened as the crystal grew dark. She kept at it until she felt it was all out of her, and then continued for a little longer to make sure. The crystal had grown heavy from it, causing her to drop it when she was done. A shard broke off on the concrete floor.
It was more exhausting to perform on herself than it was on others. Perhaps she was feeling what the victims felt when they were healed. It was a lot of work for both of them.
"You failed to mention that when you were last here." Verstael didn't look happy. She had thought he would be; it was a good power to have in times like these. But then she recalled the corrupted humans hidden somewhere deep in his lab. He used daemons in some way.
"That was only the third time I've ever done it." Andromeda mumbled, her voice weak from disuse.
"And what of the goddess that granted you these powers? Who is she?"
She chose to not answer, no matter how demanding he was being. She could at least keep that from him. Verstael and Ardyn must have been the humans Etro feared. She had every reason to.
"You know I have ways of finding the truth, Andromeda." He sneered.
She hated to hear him say her true name. She had fought so long to keep it from him. He knew just about everything about her now: where she had come from, how the Empire had destroyed her home and how she had fled from them for years, taking on a new identity. All of her secrets were now out in the open.
Before Andromeda knew what she was doing, she rushed at him in a rage, and just as quickly felt a sharp shock in her neck. She was suddenly on the floor, gasping. She had lost.
Verstael continued to hold the taser as he put his hands behind his back. Her tongue had gone numb. She didn't try to get up right away.
"I'll give you some time to think on it." He turned and left. Two of his assistants came in immediately and placed handcuffs on her. The familiar bracelet was on her ankle again.
Andromeda was placed in a cell, officially a prisoner now. Her clothing was even that of an inmate, no longer matching the assistant outfit. It wasn't as warm.
She was made to wait a very long time in her cell. She didn't mind because it meant she could keep what little she had left to herself. Let them see if Verstael could truly dig anything up on Etro. It was so very long ago. The prophecy had nothing to do with her.
All he needed was the name. Andromeda wondered if it was worth it to keep such a small detail to herself. So what if Verstael did find information about her? He wouldn't be able to do anything about it; Etro was probably the most elusive Astral. For all that Andromeda had suffered because of Etro's "blessing", the goddess would not give her any help out of this mess. Instead, she was concerned with Bahamut's prophecy, which had nothing to do with her and Andromeda wanted no part of. Was it worth it to endure all of this for Etro?
Food was eventually brought to her. Even if it was the bland mush that was common at the lab, Andromeda didn't care. They hadn't sent enough. The one thing she couldn't enjoy in a dream state was the taste of food—even the bland stuff.
Though she wore the ankle bracelet that cut off her power, she tried silently calling for Etro again. She had to be more powerful than this little device. Andromeda wasn't going to get out of this place without some divine help. Even just a conversation with Etro would be enough, especially if Andromeda could convince her to lend a hand.
It didn't work, though. She soon found herself sleeping on the uncomfortable bed of the cell. Once again, she had no idea how much time was passing.
She didn't hear anyone enter, but Ardyn was suddenly there.
Andromeda shot up from the bed. The door was still locked, as if no one had come in at all. He was amused by her reaction, but made no move to attack her again.
"You were asleep for quite awhile." He smirked. "All better now, I see. Verstael was surprised to find out you had a second power. You should be grateful he let you use it. Daemons are our business, after all."
"What do you want?" She grumbled. If she had been allowed to heal herself of Starscourge, then Verstael obviously did not want her to become a daemon.
Ardyn wasn't deterred. "You should really learn to be grateful. We could have done this the easy way. Why, you could have been in Gralea right now, rubbing elbows with the elite. Your work could have made you a hero. It might have been enough to earn Ravus's forgiveness."
"Your lies were weak." Andromeda spat. "I'd rather be here."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." He grinned. "Verstael will not be forgiving this time. And I will not take pity on you."
She scowled. Perhaps that meant that Ardyn would no longer be around. It was a small piece of good news in such a miserable prison. His words also made her wonder what Verstael had planned this time. He knew almost everything about Andromeda; now he would focus on the goddess that protected her.
It was as if Ardyn knew what was on her mind. "That goddess of yours isn't very powerful, is she? She abandoned you after putting you to sleep. She didn't try to whisk you away from such a terrible fate. It makes one wonder if it's worth it to remain loyal to her."
Etro had already explained her reason, although Andromeda didn't agree with it. She wanted to meddle in Bahamut's grand scheme to cleanse the world, but at moments where she could really disturb things, Etro disappeared instead. Ardyn had a point. But what did he really know?
"People follow the Six and are treated just the same." Andromeda pointed out. Maybe all gods were the same.
He considered her with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "What's her name?"
She ignored him just as she had with Verstael. It was too difficult to lie at this point; it was all confused by now, and she had slept through at least the winter. She had no idea what they had found out in that time.
Ardyn soon became bored of waiting for a reply. "What a shame. All that work to turn you into a proper lady, and a couple of days in Tenebrae's forests has put a wildness in your eyes. Well, we'll find out, with or without your help. When we do, will you be any use to us?"
He was suddenly gone, just as he appeared. Andromeda dashed to the door, listening for footsteps in the hall. There were none.
She waited a long time for something to happen again in isolation. The door was solid, with two slats: one at eye-level, and the other at the chest level. The lower one sometimes opened with food. It was the only interaction she had with the outside.
With nothing else to do, Andromeda often listened near the door for passing footsteps, but they didn't occur often. It was like she was abandoned while Verstael attempted to learn the goddess's name on his own. She was lucky they remembered to feed her.
At one point, she was allowed to shower, but a lab assistant kept an eye on her the whole time. At least it was another woman, and she didn't scream at the deformed skin. She had probably seen worse.
Andromeda was returned to her cell afterwards for only a short amount of time before being taken out again. Now when she was escorted through the halls, she was even handcuffed like a real prisoner.
To no surprise, she was taken to the large, spacious storage bay—having been put back in order while she was gone—where Verstael was waiting. The ankle bracelet was removed, but the handcuffs stayed on.
"Summon your god." Just as before, he was straight to the point, skipping formalities.
"It doesn't work like that." She admitted. There was no way she could fake summoning a god. Most of the time, Etro didn't answer her calls. With her past record, it could be years before Andromeda saw her again. "Don't you think I would have already done that by now?"
Verstael scowled at her remark. "Then perhaps she requires an incentive."
As he took a step towards her, Andromeda summoned her power instead, the area darkening as a howling wind picked up. She made a run for the door as various things flew through the air. The few lab assistants also scattered. One was crushed by scaffolding as it fell.
The door was locked, and she had no way of opening it. Inhuman screams were approaching. Something smashed into the door from the other side. She fled to find another exit.
Undeterred by the chaos spreading through his lab, Verstael was right behind Andromeda. He snatched her arm with surprising strength and speed for his age. He just as quickly jammed something sharp into it. Andromeda gave a shout at the sudden pain and heaviness in her bicep. Many lights above had already given out, but she could still see her skin darkening with Starscourge again.
Verstael jerked the gun out of her skin as he was struck from behind by a drum. She dashed away, cradling her newly-infected arm. The banging on the door steadily became worse; the Magitek troopers were almost through.
The other doors also had troopers clawing them on the other side. There was no safe place to hide and wait it out. Andromeda continued to look, dodging flying objects all the while. She hadn't seen what had happened to Verstael.
The doors burst open with deafening daemon screams. She hoped they would go after him and his lackeys before finding her. She weaved through the teetering scaffolding shelves, sprinting as gunshots joined the noise.
Andromeda collided with a lab assistant and fell to the floor. He recovered faster than she did, and clamped the ankle bracelet back into its place. Everything stopped.
For a moment, everyone froze in the sudden silence. Then there was the sudden racket of objects falling from the air and shelves, the wind having abandoned them. The Magitek troopers—those that hadn't been shot down—stood at the ready, waiting for a command.
The lab assistant pulled Andromeda up to her feet, grasping her clean arm. He pushed her out into the open, to Verstael.
He did his best to look unbothered by what had occurred. "Your attempt failed."
She didn't answer. It hadn't been smart of her at all. To make it even worse, she had the Starscourge again. They both looked at her arm.
At the moment of injection, it had only covered her bicep. Since then, dark veins had spread down towards her hand. The upper arm was completely covered. It reached up over her shoulder.
"Interesting." Verstael mused. "The spread of Scourge is accelerated by your power."
While he took delight in that, Andromeda was even more horrified. If she wasn't allowed to heal herself of this, her own power would kill her. The ankle bracelet was the only thing keeping that from happening.
"Remove it." He ordered of his assistant. The younger man started to question him, but then did as instructed. She hoped that this meant she would be allowed to heal herself quickly. She had to have enough value to not be turned into a daemon.
"Try to use your power again, and it may be the last thing you do." Verstael finally smiled at her. "Let's hope your goddess appears before it's too late."
Another lab assistant entered, carefully stepping over the mess strewn about everywhere. She tried being quiet, but understandably did not want to get too close to her boss. "Sir, a spy was apprehended during the... episode."
That interested him more. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the first assistant away with Andromeda. They were escorted back to her cell by two troopers. Once there, she was uncuffed and left alone again.
She was made to wait as before, but this time there was no food sent to her. She had no way of tracking time except by her appetite. She knew that there should have been at least a couple of meals by now.
When Andromeda wasn't watching the door or sleeping, she sat staring at her arm. The Starscourge didn't look as though it was getting any worse since her power had been stopped. But it was there, a constant, weighty reminder. It might not be spreading fast enough for her to notice, but it still was regardless. Until Verstael got what he wanted and Etro came to her aid, she was powerless.
She was constantly tired; there wasn't anything to do but to fade in and out of consciousness. Without the ankle bracelet, her dreams were always the same: the screams of the corrupted boys clung to her, as if she could do something for them. Having never experienced life outside of their glass chambers, they knew nothing. It was clear from the lack of visuals and anything more than infantile cries.
Andromeda fought to get away each time. At first, it didn't seem to be working. Sometimes they clung so much that she was unable to wake herself. After several tries, though, she tore her mind away from them.
There was a spy kept somewhere in the lab. She hoped he was still alive and within reach. A spy meant an enemy of Niflheim, and a possible ally for Andromeda. If anything, it would be the only person left to talk to.
She had no idea where to look. She went in a few directions before finding a man fighting against sleep. He was bound to a wall; getting him out would be a little tricky. With him, there might be a chance that they could both get out of here.
Andromeda had never willingly taken on a dream state before, but she could focus enough to appear in ethereal form in front of him. She had had a lot of practice with it recently.
The man jerked awake, squinting at her with dark eyes. "What the hell is this?"
"Do you know how to get out of here?" She asked, ignoring the surprise. Talking didn't make it any easier on her. Sleep was hard to resist.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He scoffed with a shake of his head. No matter what Andromeda was, he wasn't ready to trust her. It must have been a spy thing.
"I can cause a scene, but I don't know my way around. I'll come find you." She didn't know how she would get out of her own cell first, though. Maybe she could trick someone the next time she was allowed to shower. "Be ready when I come for you."
She completely lost focus at that, leaving him and slipping into dreamless sleep.
A tray of food was there when Andromeda woke, but the person who had left it was long gone. She cleaned it off quickly, wishing they had sent more. The small portion had given her a little more energy, though. She tucked the fork under her pillow. They obviously didn't trust her with a knife.
She left the tray by its proper slot at the door. No one had ever come in to retrieve it before. Andromeda had adapted quickly to this prison lifestyle. Had it been anywhere else, she probably wouldn't have minded it. Anywhere else wouldn't have rushed to put her in solitary confinement.
Whoever came and took the tray didn't stop at all to notice the missing fork. Andromeda continued to wait. She never thought she would want someone to come by and antagonize her. It would at least kill time. But Verstael must have been determined to wait for the goddess to come on her own.
The door eventually unlocked from the other side, the noise jerking Andromeda from dozing off. A lab assistant entered and closed the door behind himself, locking it. She stood from the bed. She didn't know that the door could lock from the inside. Something was off.
"You can heal Starscrouge as the Oracle does, right?" He asked cautiously.
Andromeda didn't answer. It was a stupid question to ask at this point. Everyone here must have already known that. It was one of the more disappointing discoveries about her. Her dark power was celebrated, but the one power that did good was punished. This was a backwards country.
"I have a slight problem." The lab assistant went on. He moved stiffly and took a seat on the bed. He pulled up one of his pant legs. His shin was blackened, possibly his foot too.
She shot a scowl at him as she knelt for a closer look. After everything they had done to Andromeda, one of them had the gall to ask for her help. He probably expected her to take the scourge into herself, making her condition all the worse.
"You know how it works, don't you?" She scolded. There was no way he could force her to agree to help.
"I do." The man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a chunk of quartz. It was only the size of his fist. "The camera's frozen right now. I set up a recording of you just sleeping. We have an hour, unless someone figures it out."
Andromeda stood. "That is not enough for both of us."
"Chief Besithia does not want you to heal yourself." He admitted, then quickly added some more, "But I can talk to him. I could try to convince him to let you heal some of it. And get you your old arrangements back. No god is going to show up."
She looked between his infected shin, the crystal, and her arm. He was right: Etro had said she would not come. She didn't have to; Andromeda had an idea.
Taking the crystal in her scourged hand, she took his hand with her clean one. She focused on pulling the Starscourge from him, through herself, and into the crystal. It moved surprisingly smooth. For a small crystal, it could hold a lot. Andromeda was soon finished with him, and managed to skim some of the scourge from herself as well before the crystal would not take more.
She let go of his hand, continuing to look at the black crystal. It was much more dense and heavy now—heavier than it should have been. The man admired his now-clear skin.
"Thank you." He smiled. "I promise I'll-"
Andromeda smashed the crystal into his skull, catching the lab assistant by surprise. He fell over. She dashed it into his head twice more to make sure he would stay down, hearing a crack. She then dropped the crystal and searched his pockets until she found the keycard.
She locked the door behind herself as she left the cell. As the lab assistant had said, there was less than an hour left before someone would notice that she was not in there.
The spy had been on the same floor as Andromeda. She tried to follow the path she had taken in her sleep. The hall was empty, but she moved slowly and quietly, listening for the sounds of other people nearby.
There weren't people, but there were Magitek troopers patrolling the halls. She waited for the right time to follow one at a distance, hands together in front of her as if cuffed, as if it were escorting her. Miraculously, the other troopers, if they saw her, did not react. The silly plan actually worked.
Andromeda followed a couple of them until she was certain she had come to the right door. The keycard worked. The door slid open and she hurried inside, closing it behind herself.
Just as she had twenty minutes before when her cell had been entered, the spy jerked awake where he hung. Andromeda hurried to undo the bindings.
"What's a kid like you doing here?" He looked her over. "Your arm!"
"Yes, I know." She finished undoing the straps on his ankles. The man stumbled to the floor. "I told you to be ready. We don't have any time. They probably already know I'm here."
"'We'?" He repeated, standing unsteadily and slicking his dark hair back. "You're not going to last much longer."
"Even less if you leave me behind. And you won't get out without my help." Andromeda hurried to the door and unlocked it.
He followed her out with a curse. "Fine. Stairs are this way."
She followed him, hiding in narrow gaps in the walls where thick emergency doors were hidden as troopers passed by. She was thankful that each one did not shut on them. However, it did force them to be too close to one another, and who knew when either of them had last showered.
They found the stairs just as an alarm sounded. A clattering followed as the troopers on the floor ran in search of them.
Andromeda shut the door of the stairwell and locked it with the keycard, but it wasn't likely that it would hold them back for long. She and the spy began running up the stairs. Shadows had already appeared before they ran into troopers, knocking the first wave down several floors below. He stopped to look at her. The chaos couldn't have come from anywhere else.
"Keep going!" Andromeda took the lead. The wind howled even louder in such a narrow space, but it did not slow their climb.
As usual, the troopers became more erratic from her power as they came after the two. The spy had picked up one of their guns and took out a few. Most were simply pushed aside by the the wind and shadows, their broken pieces flying around as debris. While he and Andromeda had to watch their heads, some of the debris destroyed more troopers as well.
They soon came to the right floor. The door had been locked, but the keycard worked on this floor as well. They came out into the storage bay she had previously destroyed twice already. Luckily, with no other humans there, there were no berserk troopers waiting for them. Plenty were following them, though.
"The door!" The spy gestured to the left, where the bay door was. Andromeda knew better than to expect a keycard to work on it. "Do something about it!"
They ran at it with the troopers behind them. He took aim at some barrels instead. They exploded from the impact of one small bullet. It took care of most of the troopers, but more were coming.
She tried to get her power under her reign, at least enough to do something about the door. The shadows beat at it, often with lightweight objects. Andromeda spotted a forklift. It was ridiculous to think she could move that.
Enough things had been thrown from the scaffolding shelves that they were much easier for the shadows to lift and lug at the door. The third one finally broke it down.
They climbed over the wreckage and out into the sunshine—something she hadn't seen in a long time. The troopers had far less trouble getting over it. The sun didn't bother them at all.
Spotting vehicles to the side, the spy nudged Andromeda, blinded by the light reflecting off of the snow, in that direction. The power felt weaker; it was nearly spent.
He took them over to a snowmobile, hopping into the seat. He thrust the gun into her arms. "Here. Keep them off of us."
Still adjusting, she wasn't very good at aiming. The trigger was about the only thing she knew about the gun. It was too strange and powerful compared to what she was used to. She relied on what little power was left, but throwing snow around wasn't very effective against metal soldiers. They quickly approached.
The snowmobile roared to life as one nearly grabbed Andromeda. The spy ripped the gun from her hands and swung it at the trooper, knocking it aside. He then tossed the gun into the snow. She took the spot behind him and held on tight as they sped towards the closing gate.
"The gate! Do something about the gate!" He yelled back to her. With whatever strength was left, the shadows gave a final push, bending each side, causing them to not fit behind the concrete walls. It was enough to stop them. It also spent the last of the storm. Andromeda clung to him against the freezing cold.
They were still pursued, but it was easier to evade the Magitek soldiers in an open space. Their legs could only run so fast. Soon the snowmobile had left them far behind.
There wasn't much time before an aircraft flew overhead. The spy began to take erratic turns in an attempt to lose it. Andromeda just trusted that he knew what he was doing.
It kept after them longer than the soldiers. The snowmobile began to lose speed. He drove it into a wooded area, weaving through trees and nearly crashing into several. Still the aircraft followed despite the lack of visibility.
The snowmobile gave a sputter, and the spy aimed for a tree. "Jump!"
Andromeda moreso fell off, letting go of him. It smashed into the tree, splitting into two. The tree remained unscathed.
He rolled and then stood up, breaking into a run. She was much slower. The aircraft hovered overhead. They wouldn't be able to get away from it by running on foot, but they had to at least try.
Then there was a much louder crash that shook the ground and caused Andromeda to fall again. She looked back to see the aircraft on the ground outside of the trees, bent and smoking. A giant woman, a blinding white thanks to the sunlight and surrounding snow, stood before it. She turned to Andromeda and smiled.
"Go." Etro urged the two humans. The spy stared up at her, gaping. Andromeda took the lead before the goddess thought about touching her again.
She was actually quite grateful that she had appeared to help. It meant that the escape was working; Etro no longer had to fear capture by Verstael (however he could manage to do that). It gave Andromeda a small boost to keep going.
The humans continued running, knowing that reinforcements would show up at that spot. From there, they could follow the tracks in the snow. When night came, there would be daemons to worry about as well.
Reaching a lake, the spy stopped running. Andromeda caught up, feeling weak all over. The sweat was quickly cooling on her skin.
"Why are we stopping here?" She asked as she gasped for air. Maybe he had been right; she wasn't going to survive this.
"My airship is nearby." He began walking along the shore. He looked too old for all of the running they had just done. "Or it was, two days ago."
"You came here in a ship, and then walked all the way to the base?"
"Yeah. There's less to cover up that way. Having another person along would have mucked things up faster." He explained pointedly, expecting Andromeda to take the hint. He was far less winded than she was, despite the torture he had probably gone through in Verstael's lab. "Mind telling me what all of that was back there?"
Shaking her head, she trudged along shakily. She looked at her arm. The scourge had spread past her elbow, veins reaching her wrist. It hadn't gotten lethal yet.
"Shit." The spy noticed how it had spread, too.
"I can fix this. I just need quartz. A lot of it." Andromeda insisted. She knew what was on his mind. He wanted to leave her for dead.
"You can heal Starscourge?" His gave a laugh, his tone dubious. "What are you, the long-lost step-sister of the Oracle?"
She scowled. An enemy of Niflheim he may be, but that didn't make him trustworthy. Then again, perhaps the Lucians would be more friendly towards her. If anything, this man had seen all that she could do. Whoever he served, he was better than her captors.
"The goddess back there was Etro. She was exiled long ago, but she's coming back into power." Andromeda explained, having caught her breath. "I died when Tenebrae fell, but she sent me back to life with her Blessing. It's all that you saw back there, and the purging of Starscourge."
The spy considered her for a long minute. She crossed her arms over her chest. The cold began to get to her again. He had better be right that his airship was nearby, untouched.
"We heard some reports from Galahd of some nasty storms that would destroy rebel camps without a cloud in the sky." He admitted. "Before that, there was a rumor in Gralea of a new double agent trading Lucian secrets for amnesty. And before all that, Verstael was working on a new sort of weapon. Guess it was all about one person."
"The Lucian thing was a cover up. I'm Tenebraen." Andromeda pointed out. "The Chancellor thought it would help me fit in. You gonna turn me in to your king anyway?"
"I have no king." The spy grinned. "I don't serve any nation—especially not Niflheim. And you're in no state to enter Insomnia."
She grunted at that, then noticed something off to her right. Hidden behind some brush was an Imperial plane. It was small, fitting only a few people. The sides had blotches where the national insignia had been erased.
He squinted at it and remained relaxed. "Told you it was somewhere close."
Once they were closer, a door opened upwards on the side at his touch. Andromeda followed the man, boarding the stolen Imperial plane. As soon as she sat in one of the uncomfortable seats, she fell asleep.