[ This hurts; every part of it. The words they exchange, the reality they're in, the discord that's been humming in his veins for the last month or so. It's all pain. It's all discomfort. But he's willing to endure for as long as he needs to. To see this through to the end, because the alternative is to give up, to let everyone and everything he loves fade and wither and turn to nothing. ]

There are too many people depending on me... too many lives in the balance... for me to do anything but give it my all.

[ He swallows. Hard. ]

if our ideals, our goals, must clash... I won't hesitate, in the end. I won't turn away from what I need to do.

[ He's going to regret a lot of this later. Especially after he loses himself to his madness for a time. ]

I never wanted war again.