"One foot in front of the other. I couldn't kill him, either. Believe me, I wanted to, but...I couldn't," Bart said, and looks off. "I have been responsible for purposefully ending a life exactly once that I know of, and the whole universe was at stake. I still have nightmares about that decision."

He takes a long sip from his mug, thinking. "I don't expect my reasons to change yours. I just know I've buried enough people in my time to not want to add to the count."