It seemed almost unbelievable that she'd still want him around, after everything between them. All the shattered pieces at their feet, and the hammer still in his hand. He'd broken things and he knew that, and yet as the fairy often managed to inspire, a part of him was hopeful. Hopeful, a thing he hadn't really felt in centuries. It wouldn't be forever, but it was better than how he existed now. It was likely foolish to imagine that knowing going in, that it would only be temporary, would make it easier to let go, and yet it was a lie he was willing to believe at the moment. For whatever reason, the fairy valued his company, cared about him. Foolishly, really, anyone could argue he was the worst possible person to let close. He didn't think he could be a good person, that he could ever really grow away from the darkness that had become his second skin. He just hoped he could manage to be better for her, because she was the only thing he had left that he truly cared about with Tatia gone.
"I want it to be different," he said quietly, braving touching her to run his thumb across the soft apple of her cheek. Her face was nearly as sweet as her heart, it seemed fitting. She seemed delicate and unearthly, even looking at her for a moment he'd known she was a fairy, even without her wings. "I don't deserve your forgiveness, Tinkerbell, for either time I've left you. I owe you the truth, especially now. I won't leave you again, unless you ask me to. Not without saying goodbye." He had never managed that final moment because it seemed harder to actually say it. One day he'd disappear from the City, or she would, and goodbye really wasn't an option then. If he found a way before then he'd have to take it, and if he did he'd tell her before he disappeared. "I don't know how to fix what I've broken but if you give me the chance I'll try." She owed him nothing and he knew that, there was no way things wouldn't be different. He likely would not be gifted in trying to be better, yet he'd managed it for a time with her, hadn't he? It might not be impossible.