[ Dangerous as it is, to begin to return to his needed rest in the company of someone who belongs to a faction that opposes his goal — Cassian is a protector, who vowed to heed his anxieties and defend him from someone who might even be undeserving of his mistrust. There is an ache deep inside of him, old phantom pains that emulate the violent death he had caused himself in the hopes of reaching deep into the soul of the world to make a connection impossible to any other save for himself and John Gaius in tandem.

So, when he feels Cassian's hand begin to stroke through his hair, and hears those words accompanying them — the sigh he breathes is one of relief. Because he can tell him now: ] I sent you and Jyn, and Gen, to Zenith. I gave you what you needed, and I lost — we lost because of me.

[ It has been a weight upon him, since that time. Three bodies and hearts to the count. Three who turned the tide against Meridian, and won Zenith the Oracle. No matter those who were Corrupted and forced to Zenith, no matter that he betrayed his own word and tore two Zenites to the side of light. He was why they lost, he knows. Set looks up, through bruise-darkening eyes and winds his hand around Cassian's knee. Claws pricking briefly at the muscle bunching there. ]

To know, I still have a hold on your heart... helps, with the shame. And the failure.

[

A lighting-fast smile, before his brow wrinkles under the strain of being awake. Before he tucks his face against Cassian's hip and wars with his need to rest. Why? Why must he be so tired, he will miss out on so many things like this. ]

You trust me, as I believe in you. Whether you cannot say or will not say what you did, you must know I do.

[ And if he tires quickly after that, falling still and feverish into a needed nap — well, the faint animal-rumble ( the purr ) that betrays him at the touch of Cassian's hand will be unknown to him. ]