[ Matt's still flailing, trying to come up with the right thing to say, the right rabbit out of a hat to transmute all these bars and locked door into a way out. Until Alia says, This is a loss I must mourn.

And then, like a flipped switch, he does understand.

He's been going about this all wrong. Trying to bargain with her, with their circumstances, to make everything okay. But it's not. And if he tries to force it, he'll be hurting her all over again. Matt swallows around the lump in his throat; scrapes his teeth across his lip. And he nods. ]

... Yeah.

I do.

[ A pause. ]

Is there anything I can do to make it easier? Anything at all? I can shut up and just stay down here for awhile. Or I can leave, if leaving would be better.