"I love you too." He buries his face in his hair, and it brings relief like a silver stream smoothing over jagged rocks. He fits the thin curve of Kaworu's body against his and holds him like a storm will blow into the room and sweep him away in its waves.

"I'll be here. I've got you."

So close to what caused all this sorrow, he can feel a small shiver run through him though he's safe and holding someone close. He remembers the sounds of killing, whisper of knife against flesh, spatter and smell of blood, and Kaworu's voice only raising protest about Mariana. He knows what this chill is. It's the same tremble in his eyes he tamped down and hid from his mom the last time he left her.

He also knows it will pass, because this time he does not tamp it down but gives it the chance to heal like a lanced boil.

"If we all got what we deserved... Well, I'd be punished too. Can't think about people like that, or it would never end."