"Yes. It's different," Declan replied softly, shifting a bit, still gazing out at the starry fields.

"You don't think about the Earth as it is right now and think 'So what's the point of going on?' but when I think about never seeing you again, I worry that the all that brightness won't come back into my life and I'll just...fight on, because I don't know anything else. It isn't fair of me to put that weight on you, and it isn't for you to fix...but it is different."