[SE] maybe then you'll get a little heated too

JACK

"Death by a thousand cuts versus a quick one," Jack reasons. "Might hurt now, but maybe you did the right thing in the long run." Colt might hate him but that means she might be able to love someone else in time, someone who wanted that love instead of to exist in her mind as a shadowy half-memory. Leaning his elbows on his knees as Vesper slumps down onto the bunk, the demigod's mental shields have got nothing on the youthful hurt that shines plain in his face once the bravado all drops away, Jack glancing sidelong at him to listen.

Huffing out a breath that might be a laugh if you cock your head and close one eye, the Captain nods in all too ready agreement. "I can drink to that, even if it don't make a difference to feelin' like hell," he says, jostling his shoulder against the boy's for a moment. "Y'know, Ludo can carve memories right outta you for a price. Your mother'd hate it, but if it ever got too much..." He shrugs. "I considered it for a bit, but I don't like the idea of havin' holes in my mind."

Other than that, though...

"Bet no one'll be thinkin' of her in the Greatwood. Or Halo... or The Climb," he says slowly, the ghost of a smile curling across his lips.

believer, believe it or not you'll know
when it ends and how it goes