I was furious. I had accepted that I was left with little time, and came to terms with that. The explosion was practically a mercy at that point, and waking up to find myself changed in body and mind alike was...too much. So I left, and that may have been one of the greatest mistakes I have ever made.

[Gathering up the last of what he had dropped, Viktor straightened up nd started walking back to his room.]

...I did not know what I hated more. That he broke his promise to me, or that I was forced into a prolonged life I was not prepared for. Time I did not expect to have. But I...grew to realize, eventually, that it was a foolish and reckless act of love.

There is little chance I will see him again. But if I do, I think I owe him an apology for failing to understand that. Among many other things.