Rebuilding the city would take their minds off their grief. At least for a little while.
Deep in his heart, he wept along with them.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...
He forced himself to walk down the corridor without yielding to the need inside to fix everything.
By the time he'd reached Urian's apartment, Ash was disgusted by the bloodshed Stryker had wrought in the name of Apollymi.
There was no sense in this, but then she was the Goddess of Destruction. And it was why he had to make sure she was never released from her prison.
Ash found Urian on his knees in the center of the living room. The man held a small gold locket in his hands as he wept silently.
"Urian?" Ash said in a low, steady tone.
"Go away!" he snarled. "Just leave me alone."
"You can't stay here," Ash said. "The Apollites will turn on you."
"Like I care." He looked up and the empathetic pain Ash felt from Urian made him take a step back. It had been a long time since Ash had come into direct contact with so much hopeless grief. "Why didn't you let me die too? Why did you save me?"
Ash took a deep breath as he explained it to Urian. "Because if I hadn't, you would have sold your soul to Artemis over this and killed your father."
"You think I'm not going to kill him over this?" He turned on Ash with a growl. "There's nothing left of her. Nothing! I don't even have anything to bury. I..." His words broke off as he sobbed.
"I know," Ash said, placing his hand on Urian's shoulder.
"You don't know!"
Ash gripped his chin and lifted it until their gazes locked. "Yes, Urian, I do know."
Urian struggled to breathe as he saw images flickering through Ash's swirling silver eyes. There was so much pain in them, so much agony and wisdom.
It was hard to maintain eye contact with him.
"I don't want to live without my Phoebe," Urian said, his voice breaking on the words.
"I know. For that reason, I'm giving you a choice. I can't lock on to your father to monitor him. I need you to do that. Because sooner or later, he'll be back after Apollo's lineage."
"Why would I protect them? Phoebe died because of them!"
"Phoebe lived because of them, Urian. Remember? You and your father were responsible for killing her entire family. Did you ever tell Phoebe it was you? You? Who killed her grandmother? Or her cousins?"
Urian looked away shamefaced. "No. I would never have hurt her."
"Yet you did. Every time you, your father, or one of your Spathis killed one of her family, she felt the pain you feel now. Her mother's and sisters' deaths tore her apart. Isn't that why you saved Cassandra to begin with?"
"Yes."
Ash stepped away from him while Urian wiped his tears away.
"You said I had a choice?"
"The other is that I will erase your memories of everything. You'll be free of all of this. All your pain. The past, the present. You can live as if none of this had ever happened to you."
"Will you kill me if I ask it?"
"Do you really want me to?"