Gene looks down at his tea, and says nothing for a moment, just watching the steam curl up.

"I was going to do it," he said quietly, his voice pained. "After the fifth ring, I...I had a moment of clarity, I realized that I was wrong." He swallowed hard, trying to figure out how to proceed. "It wasn't worth it. It wasn't. All that power wasn't worth losing almost all of the only people who ever cared about me."

He looks back up at Pepper. "I threw them away. I didn't want them anymore. But it was the Temple of Sacrifice for a reason, and throwing them away...showed me where the rest were."

Then he looks down again, unwilling to keep meeting her eyes. "It was easier to go after the rings than to go back to you all. If I apologized, I didn't think you'd forgive me. That part of my life had ended; I killed it myself when I walked out of the dragon's mouth."

He's gripping the mug so tightly his hands are burning from the heat, but he doesn't care. "I thought, maybe...if I had them all...I could show you, and you'd understand. I did those things because I wanted to make the world better. I thought it was my destiny to make the world better. I wanted to rule, but I was going to use that power to...fix things."

Then he laughs bitterly. "Even if the Makluans hadn't come, I don't think I would have been too good at that."