[When John's words hit Liem, the weight of them almost makes him flinch. If they didn't let go, they would end up destroying it themselves. Surely that isn't what he's been doing — what they've all been doing, in trying to bring back the worlds they've left behind. Even if their hope is futile after all, they can hardly destroy what has already been turned to dust.]

To what end?

[Finally, he lifts his gaze back to the other man's — almost hesitantly, as though he's hoping he won't still be there when he looks again.]

Why would you [— why would Liem —] give up on even the slimmest chance of returning to what was yours, just to leave it all behind? The things you've built. The people who depended on you. The causes you bled for.

[How is he supposed to leave all of that behind, just cut his losses and say but maybe it can't be done? For a hundred years he has lived and breathed solely for other people, other purposes. He has staked his entire life on the promise that if he was dutiful, if he fulfilled his tasks well and stayed true to his faith, he would be able to die knowing that he had improved the world by living in it, and he could go peacefully to whatever reward awaited him. How, then, is he meant to live on in a world where none of that mattered? Where he is simply Liem the vampire's son, a redundant, unworthy remnant of a world better off erased from existence.

If that is the truth, then perhaps he would rather simply die after all.]