"The metal in my back says differently, doesn't it?" he snaps, and her eyes close and her body freezes for a moment, curling in on itself, and he knows why and it doesn't make anything better.

"I told you." Her voice is so small, in the small space between them, and it's the faintest ghost of a sad smile he sees as she stands and gathers the last of her things. "I'd rather you be alive than anything, even if it means you hate me for it."