Apologies were her department, hearing a string of them from someone else, especially someone suffering so -- left a bad taste in her mouth. As she leaned forward, her unkept hair slid into her line of sight as well, framing her face as she looked down at him, refusing to let those tears crest over.

"I... " her voice was shaking at its foundation, her hands beginning to do the same as they cupped his face, positioning herself so that his head rested in her lap. "Of course I will... and you'll be there too," he just had to be -- though his respiration rate was already past the point of alarming. "We'll get through this, you -- you'll be revived too by the Crystals..."

He had to be... he just had to be!