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[/html]Under any other circumstances, Locke would've felt bad for bringing such a burden down upon Haven; he was sure the young man hadn't asked for this when he confronted him. He was just a loyal pack member, doing his appointed, and expected, duty. The broken man understood duty, and he understood purpose. But despite the truth of the situation, he couldn't comprehend what happened to his purpose, his duty. Without his wife, he had nothing. They'd both forsaken their former lives in favor of something new, and something real. Nothing was more real that the prospect of children; life. Nothing except death.
When the other spoke, the words barely registered in his blank mind. It took a few moments for the recognition to lift his features a little, ears lifting a little from their flattened position on his skull. A little life was breathed back into Locke at the honest, selfless offer, but he couldn't accept. Because he had failed, it was his job now to face the consequences of it alone. He looked on towards Haven, almost ready to accept, but in the same breath declined with a simple shake of his head. "No," He said finally, voice a hollow, gravelly rasp, "I have to do this alone." The words burned his throat, and tore at his heart; the thought of burying his life in the cold, dead earth. Nevertheless, he was thankful.
Clutching the bundle closer, a gush of air billowed out from between his lips in the form of a soft sigh. He couldn't just leave Haven now. Looking now to those pained jade eyes, Locke observed the younger man for a moment before deciding: he would make it up to him somehow, if it was even possible to amend the horrors that Locke had brought into his home. Regardless, he would try, because that's was something he could do.