Gene shakes his head. "You weren't here for Malicant," he says softly. "When it was my turn to fight it, it took Zhang's shape, first, and then hers. I couldn't fight her...I could only defend. She - it - nearly killed me. It was only because I was able to remember that it wasn't real that I saved myself."

He looks up at her, tears in his eyes. "I ran her through."