These puppets mastered

River:

I spent most of that night strategizing how could I interfere with the investigation. How could I - if I should at all - sabotage the red passenger. Whatever it was, I needed to be clever. How worth it was all of this. There needed to be other ways to save April. I felt like a toy, I could see the hypothetical strings in my hands being used to move my actions into attacking the things I loved the most. Shouldn't Medallion be stopped anyway. If they made Malcolm a target, wouldn't it be because they saw the potential in the investigation?

That night I dreamed I saw myself starring back at me. Not through a mirror, not a reflection. Another real but rather scary version of me in flesh and bone. She didn't need to say a word for me to understand that she was about to fight me. So I jumped, and dodged. I was right: she had just tried to hit me and missed because I moved.

I looked at her, and she looked at me. She, the other me, looked angry. I couldn't tell at what, but my instincts told me to escape, and I did. I started running, only to hear my other footsteps starting to sprint behind me as well. The other me threw me a rock. I dodged again, and she missed. I didn't know if I could turn back and fight. Given we are both the same person, wouldn't our strengths match at the same level? Would it be possible for any of us to win or lose? I didn't want to find out. I couldn't tell what my surroundings were. They looked somewhat like a forest in the dark - in the middle of the night.

The other me threw me a branch, I moved left, and she barely missed this time. She was getting closer, and I could not run forever. That's when I armed myself with strength and turned around. I could see the other me approaching at full speed, and I was terrified of her. I screamed as I gathered courage, and started sprinting back - towards the other me. Confronting the rest of me, and I woke up.

I knew then. That I would not stop the red passenger. I was weak, I was indecisive - but I had finally chosen.