[If the disapproving look from Gordon weren't enough, the sound Fio makes is enough to warn him that he's gone too far. He's talking to a child. Someone who needs reassurance, not an introductory course to abstract nihilism.]

I know. [He can't promise he won't disappear, he knows that now. Any sense of stability he had in their current situation has been completely upended, and he can't bring himself to lie to her. He just... needs to find a different way to say it.]

I would be happiest if we could all remain here forever, the way we were when we arrived. I would gladly fight a thousand Battle Royales to stay here, unchanged, with you. [But it's too late for that. Certainly, he'll find his way back to something approximating the same skeleton he was before, but never fully.]