He sounds fragile because he feels fragile, teetering on a ledge, knowing he doesn't want to stay where he is but not certain he can survive the fall.

Pidge wraps him in a hug and he trembles in her grasp. He wants it to be real. He wants it all to be real - the Legion, Chronoblivion, her, all of it - because it means he hasn't completely fucked up his life. The universe might be in danger of ending, but at least he wouldn't be alone.

But if he believes it, and it's not true...his battered sanity can only handle so much, and having that much hope so thoroughly dashed would be well beyond its limits.

He wants this to be real- but he can't handle it if it's not- but he could gain so much- but he stands to lose everything-

And what the hell does he have left to lose? A life that's not worth living anyway?

I'm real! Focus on me!

And he does, squeezing his eyes shut and wrapping his arms tightly around her. She has to be real. He can't have dreamed her up. She has to be real.

When he dares to open his eyes again a few seconds later, the first thing he sees is his HUD. He's in his armor, still holding Pidge tightly against him. The cell has disappeared completely, leaving them in a void of seemingly endless white.

Chronoblivion. It's still fucking with him, somehow, but not nearly as badly as it had been before Pidge arrived.

"Huh," he says quietly, the faintest tinge of humor in his voice. "I guess you are real."