The hug puts him off balance and steadies him all the same. He reaches back to hug as well, before finally forcing himself to stand straight. Sometimes he hates being so tall, mostly when he's like this and doesn't feel big enough for his own form, whole enough to move it.

"I'LL TRY." He smiles weakly. "S'what I'm always doing ain't it? WHAT WE'S ALL DOING. Just gotta keep trying."

This was what he was fighting for. For all of them.

So he tells himself, don't forget that, and promises one day, once more, to write it in voodoo over his heart.

He heads unsteady out the alley, into that bright sunlight, and with Sam at his side, he braces for the future.