[Oh joy, laughter. That was always fun. He very almost bites back that he's really had enough of her attitude, and if she really wants to kill him, why doesn't she just go ahead and do it. After all, he has very little to lose now anyway.

But then she has to be...well, Echidna. He looks at his trapped axe, deliberating just yanking the damn thing out anyway. ...But no. He's gone down the path where he's ignored the consequences of his actions, where he was just selfish and hurtful and did whatever the hell he wanted. And look where it got him.

So, his eyes fixed on hers, his hand drops to his side]

You'd be surprised how much 'anything' can cover, and how much doing it can really change you. She wouldn't want me to become that person again.

[And then, calmly, he stands, back to his full towering height. His expression changes, it becomes something colder, harder. The one of the man who destroyed an entire valley for his own benefit. A man who, sometimes, was more like his mother than he'd care to admit]

But what she doesn't know can't hurt her. I hear you loud and clear.

[He just hopes it won't come to that, because if it does, he doubts he'll be able to come back from it a second time]