[ it feels like pity and the thought is scalding to him. he grimaces, closing his one eye as he collects his own thoughts. this is his one chance. he doesn't want to fuck it up. doesn't want a path of unsaid chances left in their wake.

he turns to vash. brushes his thumb over his cheek in the trail of a tear. ]

You didn't leave me behind. You just couldn't take me with you.

[ and you wouldn't. why would he? why would anyone? dolph is tethered here. he's dead. there's nothing anyone can do about it. no happy endings.

tenderly, he cups vash's face. ]

All the people you loved were back there. Meryl. Knives —[ a muscle in his jaw tightens over the next word ] — Livio. You kept a castle of ghosts. A room where no one could enter. A greenhouse. You don't think I knew?

I just — [ thought he could make vash happy. bridged the gap. finally say what's in his heart and weather whatever outcome would have happened.

but the truth was. vash was always going to go back. over and over. and dolph would always be here. ]

— I just couldn't fill it.