Mercury was aware of Cortana's rampancy. She'd even done what she could to hold off its progression - at John's request, of course, not her own impulse. But she'd never seen it like this. She'd never seen that frustrated anger (so like her own) or that fear that went deeper than anger, a fear that the one thing she had to finally rely on wasn't so steady after all.

She knew that feeling. For a moment she might have slapped Cortana (with some satisfaction), just as she might have done the same to someone else acting hysterically. Instead, as Cortana calmed herself, she decided there was no need for that. And she stayed quiet herself.

It cost her a lot to be fair, and there was something beyond ironic about the renegade senshi giving the advice she was about to speak. But in front of that raw desperation she knew all too well, she couldn't help herself in the end. Her voice was steady, detached and almost cold.

"You already know that's not the case." Wasn't it Cortana who, just a few moments ago, had realized John was thinking of her?