Chloe, you’re smart as a whip and twice as sharp, but you don’t know what you’re talkin’ about here.

[ His tone brooks no argument. She doesn’t know, can’t know… and that’s not her fault, is it? She didn’t put these ideas in her own head.

It was Reaper. Whatever his plan was, whatever he was trying to do with the shadowy remnants of Gabe, his memory, his legacy… he’d tear apart whatever was left of the former commander’s name for his own ends. And there’s just nothing forgivable about that.

But thinking of Gabe being alive still, surviving only to become this twisted version of everything he’d valued—no. That’s worse. And it’s selfish of Jesse not to consider it, in part, because he can’t ignore the part he also played in the fall. The guilt of Gabe’s death is heavy enough.

Knowing he’d been part of Gabe losing his humanity would be so much worse. ]

… Just, please. [ He drags a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes, and the only thing he telegraphs now is exhaustion. ] Don’t meet with him alone anymore. Bring someone along. Meet where there’s other people around.