He stared at her, at once wanting to be swept up in her youthful energy and wanting to shield her from all that he was and represented.

"You don't understand," he said softly. "I don't want to die. I want to have... lived a different life. The future I saw... the future I feared is the one that has come to pass. I made this happen. The things you fought to get here, the things you've seen... that's what happened to the future I hoped for."