[Elena swallows thickly and nods a little. It's obvious she hadn't expected him to be that accurate. A vague speculation that there's something different about her, sure, but to know for certain she's dead?]

There was a car accident. I drowned.

[She's crisp, but she's not clinical about it. She just doesn't want to dwell on it because if she stays with it for longer than that, she doesn't know how likely it is she'll be able to keep talking. Elena breaks the gaze with Giorno to look down at her lap. Her brow furrows a little, as she blinks rapidly for a just a few seconds. Her eyes are wet, but she refuses to cry right now. She just focuses on explaining the whole truth.]

It's a long story, but I had hit my head pretty hard earlier that day and I lost a lot of blood.

I . . . [Elena draws a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it go.] I don't know how I got vampire blood in my system exactly. I have an idea, but when I woke up on the train, I didn't know I had even . . .

[She falls silent for just a few seconds.]

I didn't know I was in transition until I was talking to Fugo. I remembered the accident, and I could hear his pulse, and I was . . . [Elena looks up at the ceiling briefly. There's no part of the rest of this sentence that feels comfortable to say.] I was hungrier than I've ever been in my life. I knew what was happening after that, and I didn't want to hurt him.

[That's why she tried to get Fugo to leave her to navigating the city by herself. That's why when it became obvious he wasn't going to let that happen, she made sure there was distance between them so it was easier to ignore the urge to feed and complete the transition.]

I don't want to hurt anybody. [Elena is sure to look Giorno firmly in the eye. He needs to believe that.] That's why I'm here.