A L E C__I R I S
"You think this didn't matter to me before I came here? That I'm just telling you what you want to hear right now to save my own skin?" he snapped, caring very little that he was raising his voice, which was suddenly filled with resentment. "I spent every minute of every day travelling from place to place, trying to help the people I condemned to this fate! It might not be much compared the devastation I caused but trust me, I have lost the powers that meant I could just click my fingers and make this all go away. If I was even half as strong as I was back then, d'you not think I would storm into that castle and rip the crown right off your mother's head? Because I would, without a single doubt... but I can't anymore." He glanced down at the ground, fists clenched by his sides. The chances that she would hear him out were very slim, he knew as much, but he would finish what he'd started, regardless of the outcome.
"I thought about tracking you down many times... But I knew you would likely not forgive me, not after everything I did. Truthfully, I wanted to avoid this very conversation. Because it's a futile effort on my part. I could apologise until my dying breath, but there's too much water under the bridge," he admitted. "That's why I didn't come to you sooner." He released a sigh, and shook his head. "But it's just as well. Make no mistake, I don't believe I actually deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve anyone's forgiveness, for that matter. But regardless of whether you and the rest of the world hate me and want me to suffer a very drawn-out, very painful death, I will still try my hardest to make a difference. I owe these people so much more, and I know that. But there's only so much I can do on my own."
Alec's gaze shifted in the direction of the tent they were just in. "I do not want you or Alice to get hurt, so if you think the risk of my presence too great in comparison to the help I can offer you... I... I will go."