"I did," he says quietly, neither staring nor dropping his gaze. Kira has met all kinds of people, before and after waking up in the fountain. He's undressed hundreds of bodies, he's seen and felt and tasted all kinds of scars. Sometimes they're childhood accidents, sometimes they're self-inflicted. Ty had all manner of marks from his mysterious years of training, but the point--

Kira knows why Credence has those scars, and it's nothing to do with learning anything but the wrong things. Especially about himself. Especially about his own worth.

His own bruises are innocuous, nothing in the same universe as those scars, and he forgets them as he wades back to his friend. When he comes up beside him, he reaches with his left hand, layers the scarred knuckles over Credence's own. "Hey," he says, no louder than before. He's not going to tell Credence to cover back up, or let him run away without cooling off in the water, learning to exist in his own skin a little--but he can do it gently. "This," he says, pointing to the hand taking Credence's own, "and this," lifting it until Credence follows his own fingers to the line cutting Kira's cheek. "They hurt. That's what scars are. Someone, or something hurts you, and you live through it. Only someone incredibly cruel would laugh at them. Only someone who didn't matter at all."