[There was a time he would have asked her what her home was like as a child without one wondering if they were perhaps similar. A child who was always trapped between worlds, always walking the line between them, forever part of both and part of neither. But whatever could have bridged them is gone now, crumbled and destroyed. The last hope for repair sinks beyond retrieval with her words.]

I would have done anything I could have to stop you from hurting him. I would have killed you were you stood without regret.

[Something wavers. Not his resolve to kill her. But the undeniable truth that he had misjudged her. And that perhaps there was a change to prevent what she had done that he hadn't noticed. That he'd let slip through his fingers. That maybe he should have held tighter to Anders' hand instead of letting go, expecting to see him tomorrow as always.

His shield blocks most of the explosion but shrapnel breaches the barrier and shards tear at his skin. One large piece embeds itself in his shoulder with enough force to knock him prone.]