Aria was exhausted. It wasn’t something she could deny, at least in her own mind -- she would deny it everywhere else, of course. You can’t be exhausted in her position. Everyone already doubted her. She had to kill those who questioned her without thought, or else it would spiral out of control. She had to be known as a heartless woman just to be seen as powerful.

And it was exhausting.

But she refused to stop. Refused to show that weakness. You don’t get ‘days off’ when you own a station. She just had to keep pushing on. Even when her hands shook with overwhelm, she forced them to still. Even when her head pounded behind her eyes from all the bright strobing lights that were typical of Afterlife, she blinked it away. She was fine. She wouldn’t be weak.