"Hopefully not literally, although I guess might be gone now too, if things went down the nasty route while I wasn't around."

Theoretically speaking, of course. And it's also not like IV would have any way to still influence things back home, with the state he had been in before he arrived here and all. Still, the idea that he might end up accidentally abandoning his little brother both smarts and scares him the most.

It's easier to just think of all this like a prolonged fever dream or some absurd brain activity while in a coma-like state than to worry too much, so that's what he usually tries to do.