Wash never squirmed that far away from any of the others before, body language tense from anyone being close.

Especially when that someone is ghost.

Of all possible reactions Wash could give to "Freelancer sold us out," laughter possibly doesn't rank very high on the list. It's just slightly on the edge of hysterical, due to the absolute ludicrousness of a) North being here, even if it's a dream, b) thinking Project Freelancer still exists when Wash wiped it out, partly due to Epsilon and the Alpha, and himself, but also in part due to all the corpses - like North's - he got tired of seeing.

Sold out by his own sister for an AI because Freelancer wanted to play games with the two of them and try to make South jealous on purpose, no doubt.

"Hard for me to hear. Riiight."

He pinches his nose, wondering why his brain is punishing him in this specific way, with North pretending to not know what happened.

"You're a decade late and a few dollars short on the 'Freelancer doesn't have our best interests at heart' thing," he says bitterly. "Also late on the fact that the project's gone, but I guess my brain is trying to make this as real to life as possible, since that was after."

After North wasn't around to see it.

"And don't give me an 'after what?' when you know."