[ The worst part of it is that a part of Morgana is desperate to believe it. Even as her eyes sting and her brain cries out that it's a trick, her heart wants to think that this isn't a dream, a falsehood, some lie tossed at her like one might throw a scrap bone at a stray dog. ]

...Yes... if you had been there, perhaps... I could have enjoyed those bright days one more time... [ It's not an acquiesce that this is the real Maria, but it isn't quite an argument against it, either. If it is a fake, at least, she's doing a remarkably good job at being a stand in for the woman who had taken care of her with a cheeky grin. ] If you are her... tell me, how did you survive? Wh...why...