Beckett's lower jaw trembles and shock courses through Noel at the sight of tears gathering in his brother's eyes. "I didn't want to," Beckett says, his voice small and shaky. "I never wanted…I was just scared…."
With a sharp inhale, Beckett turns away, pushing himself to his feet. He runs a hand down his face. "I had to stay away from you," he explains, muffled behind his palm. "I had to keep dad's attention off of you, because if he decided…decided you were too much of a liability to me, he would—"
"Get rid of me," Noel intones, repeating what he told Jade not long ago.
Beckett grits his teeth, pressing the heels of both hands into his eyes. "And if he found out about the transference, he might do something even worse—all I could do was just keep you away until I was strong enough to protect you myself, and then you wanted to be a guide, fine, whatever, being some random guide in some agency's D-suite would be okay, but you just had to work at Halo for some godforsaken reason—"
