[He tries to pay attention to the minute details where her face should be, but in the faint glow of their souls and collar fluid, along with the red lights... he can't fully realize the expressions. Implications only made the sensation of something twisting inside him worse, and he knows with that single word what she meant.

She was thinking back to the last time they'd seen each other, when their bodies were real and not some cheap knock-off metal and tubes of glowing liquid.

When he turned his back on the only people who actually cared about him.]

...

[It takes him a moment to nod, because like the last time she asked a question like this, he wasn't sure about this answer, either.]

Promise.

[Though in truth, he doesn't know if he can keep it. At least he isn't about to run off and do something stupid? He's just... defeated. A little. On the inside. Even one of the abilities he has that's his own (and he hates) is a lie.]

I'm more worried- [He looks at his hand, flexing the metal that makes it. Funny; it still felt real even when what he guesses he can see from say it's a lie.] -for those who still thought that it was more than this than me.

[A partial lie; he's more worried for how those from their worlds will take it, considering how complicated the whole Heart/Soul/real and fake thing is.]

It's almost funny, really...