"Even by these guys?" He didn't believe they were gods. That was what he kept telling himself. He didn't want to believe it could be real since he hadn't believed in god for a lot of years and wasn't ready to believe in a lot of them. "Even if they..." He shook his head, not even sure he wanted to know what they had done to him. "Listen, it's not worth the chance," he pointed out. "We want you here. We ... We need you, okay?"

Damn but emotions were still hard, and likely always would be.