I...[Salieri lets Varian draw back, and for a moment his eyes are downcast, before he steels himself and looks up. He meets Varian's searching gaze, and there's a furrow to his brow--]

...my picture, it...was everyone. And I...I didn't know until it was nearly too late, and then Discord--[he stops, closes his eyes, shakes his head. He takes a breath and then lets it out, slowly, and opens his eyes again. Despite the streaks of black make up, he seems somehow calmer, like he's tucked his emotions away, controlling them for now.]

The short of it is, the Wizard's motive that I could prevent was...the death of everyone. If I didn't do anything, then they would all be gone. And by the time I found out, there was...there was no time to come up with another plan and I'd just lost you, and Rina, and...and so I took the first idea that came to mind. I thought...I thought, with Discord's powers, perhaps if he got out, he could come back and get us--what could death do in the face of the Powers of Chaos?

[Salieri swallows; even as he speaks it out loud, the plan seems less and less like anything worth trying and nothing but a wild, speculative chance]

So I asked Discord to kill me.