[For a moment he stops breathing when she confirms his thoughts. He didn't want to leave, he knew that, even in Attollo he'd said as much. He'd never had any intention of leaving, and the fact that it remained true to the very end wasn't even surprising to him, but at the expense of what? The way she's acting, holding herself, crying- and everything is coming too fast for him to process. He doesn't speak, he can't - how could he now, after that statement? He'd meant that he would have never left her there without him, and now he's seeing that the situation was not at all how he'd imagined it. How he'd had to imagine it with no frame of reference to speak of. This reality, this version of events being told now, none of it made any sense to him, but one thing stuck out. She'd made the choice.]
The clock tower...
[His voice is barely a whisper, gaze lowering again with the realization.]
We went through the clock tower.
[It wasn't a question, that made sense to him. It was logical that he'd outright refuse to leave, for as far as he knew one day he returned Al to his body. He needed to go home for that, he couldn't walk through a door into some unknown "paradise" and still manage to get home and save his brother. He would have stubbornly stayed there, no matter what the circumstances and he realized that, but to hear it like this...]
What do you mean- it was just us..?
[He could guess, he had an idea but it was a hard concept to swallow and he needed to hear it if it was the truth. His brain wouldn't process it, otherwise. If Purg had become nothing but the two of them, how had they survived at all as long as they did? Sure, it had gotten pretty quiet in the days leading up to whatever happened, but even in his worst moments he couldn't realistically fathom being the last there. At the next thing he only smiles, ruefully. Nothing she says could be dismissed as unrealistic, but the words 'unreasonable jerk' only made it that much easier for him to imagine. He knew he could be just that, so what could she even have to apologize for? Putting up with that? Saving his life despite everything? He's not even able to register the talk about dying, that might sink in later but for now there was something more pressing to address.]
I could never hate you.
[His voice is soft again, swallowing back the emotion there. He couldn't stand the thought that she'd even think that, especially not when she had every right to do what she did. Maybe that was hindsight, maybe the years away from Purg matured him past the point he was at when he'd been there with her, but whatever it was- he could never fathom even considering hating her for doing what she thought was right to save him. Especially not like this, not with it coming at him like this, and as many questions as this whole situation brought to the surface there was only one concern at the moment. She was crying. She was crying because of him and the thought made something inside him clench with the pain of it. He barely gives her a moment to register the movement, reaching forward to pull her arms from her face before tugging her to him in another hug. This time not nearly as gentle as the first, clutching her to him as if unable to release the tension from his body, voice breaking with the next words, practically against her ear.]
no subject
The clock tower...
[His voice is barely a whisper, gaze lowering again with the realization.]
We went through the clock tower.
[It wasn't a question, that made sense to him. It was logical that he'd outright refuse to leave, for as far as he knew one day he returned Al to his body. He needed to go home for that, he couldn't walk through a door into some unknown "paradise" and still manage to get home and save his brother. He would have stubbornly stayed there, no matter what the circumstances and he realized that, but to hear it like this...]
What do you mean- it was just us..?
[He could guess, he had an idea but it was a hard concept to swallow and he needed to hear it if it was the truth. His brain wouldn't process it, otherwise. If Purg had become nothing but the two of them, how had they survived at all as long as they did? Sure, it had gotten pretty quiet in the days leading up to whatever happened, but even in his worst moments he couldn't realistically fathom being the last there. At the next thing he only smiles, ruefully. Nothing she says could be dismissed as unrealistic, but the words 'unreasonable jerk' only made it that much easier for him to imagine. He knew he could be just that, so what could she even have to apologize for? Putting up with that? Saving his life despite everything? He's not even able to register the talk about dying, that might sink in later but for now there was something more pressing to address.]
I could never hate you.
[His voice is soft again, swallowing back the emotion there. He couldn't stand the thought that she'd even think that, especially not when she had every right to do what she did. Maybe that was hindsight, maybe the years away from Purg matured him past the point he was at when he'd been there with her, but whatever it was- he could never fathom even considering hating her for doing what she thought was right to save him. Especially not like this, not with it coming at him like this, and as many questions as this whole situation brought to the surface there was only one concern at the moment. She was crying. She was crying because of him and the thought made something inside him clench with the pain of it. He barely gives her a moment to register the movement, reaching forward to pull her arms from her face before tugging her to him in another hug. This time not nearly as gentle as the first, clutching her to him as if unable to release the tension from his body, voice breaking with the next words, practically against her ear.]
Please- stop crying....