[He knows that his heart should not be thundering the way it does when Jin comes closer, uttering words that should frighten him.

This is the dance they often do, it is the first force that propelled them towards each other, and as sad and disappointed as he is in this moment, Asher enjoys it.]

They killed him, Jin.

[His world has fallen apart more than once, and this is the final straw. The white picket fences and ostentatious walls of his childhood home had come crumbling down in his father's study, and the tiny corner of campus that he had so desperately wanted to be his own, the classmates he wanted to be his family, they have been ruined too.

But when Jin touches him with the warmth of someone who loves him unconditionally, despite knowing every terrible thing he has ever done, Asher does not quite mind being broken.

It is in part what keeps the shaolin here, after all, and as ashamed as the law student might be to admit it, he likes being saved.]

And I was there, probably.

I was there that night, I went to yell at 'em, after the bonfire, I was drunk-

[He recalls how his knuckles hurt after throttling that door.]

Connor's car was in the driveway, but nobody answered.

[It happened then.

It happened then, and he had been powerless to stop it.

Just like all the other times...]

They were in there.

[A gulp.]

I'm sure.