Chapter 43: Nothing but the truth.
"You know that I'm human, don't you?" Arora asked, her expression somber.
Arbus simply stared at her for several moments, as a tense silence enveloped them.
"Of course i did. You didn't really do a very good job hiding it." Arbus responded with a shrug, stepping past her into the house.
Arora turned towards him with disbelief, as she balled her fists in frustration."You knew and you didn't say anything!?... Why?"
She followed him inside, her voice rising. "Aren't you scared of humans? Weren't you the one who told me about all the horrible things they did? How they betrayed and slaughtered countless races before enslaving them?"
"Why are you being so lax about this?"
Arora couldn't help but feel like she'd been played by someone she considered a friend.
"Why am I the one getting scolded? You're the one who lied to me," Arbus grumbled tiredly as he dropped onto the couch.
He looked over at her, then sighed heavily.
"I did it because I didn't think you were like that. At least, I didn't want to think you were like that. I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I'd slowly been proven correct as time went by."
He shifted uncomfortably, then continued hesitantly.
"Also, I didn't want you to get scared off since I knew your secret."
Arora raised an eyebrow.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Arbus remained silent for several moments.
"Well... you're the first person I've spoken so freely to, in over a year. After everything went down. I didn't really want that to change, i guess"
Arora blinked.
She hadn't truly realized how much of an effect her presence had on him. In truth, she felt the exact same way.
She'd never had someone she could interact with so casually. The closest relationships she'd had in her past life were with Mr. Raymond, who rarely came to the orphanage, and Santa Claus, who she only spoke to through letters every eleven months. That wasn't for lack of trying, either. It just seemed like she wasn't meant to get close to anyone.
"I guess i understand. I know exactly how that feels..... more even." Arora blurted out.
Arbus frowned slightly at her words, then scoffed silently.
"More? Well, I doubt that."
Arora's brows furrowed. "What?"
Arbus turned to her, his expression darkening as he rose to his feet.
"You heard me. What exactly do you know about losing both the people you love most in the world in one fell swoop?" he shouted. "What do you know about being called an abomination simply for existing? Tell me, what exactly do you understand about your own grandfather staring at you like he'd just lost his grandson?"
Tears slowly welled up in his eyes as his voice cracked.
"Don't talk to me about knowing more."
Arora stared at him silently for several moments. Then her expression turned cold.
"At least you had parents to lose. At least you had a family who cared about you. At least you had a chance to live — a time when everything felt magical, a time you can think back to wistfully when everything wasn't so grim."
Tears slowly fell from her eyes despite her cold gaze.
"I don't have any of that!"
Arbus blinked, stepping back slightly.
"I never had any of that. I have no memories to look back on, wishing I could return there. All I've ever known is loneliness. All I've ever felt... is loneliness."
Her face scrunched up as her glasses fogged slightly from her tears.
Arbus watched her, his breath ragged. He felt his anger dissipate as he realized how insensitive he'd been. He was still in an emotional state, due to his argument with Dorian earlier. Arora's words had triggered him more than he'd have liked. He had no idea about her past life or her situation, yet he'd instinctively assumed his situation was worse simply because she came from a world filled with her own kind.
He wasn't sure if this was the underlying prejudice he'd slowly developed toward humans after the incident last year, but he was certain he didn't like it one bit.
He wiped his eyes as he stepped closer.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry about everything you went through. That sounds terrible. I don't know who I'd be if I never had my parents in the first place."
He hesitated, then continued. "You're right. I can't imagine how terrible that is."
He walked up to her hesitantly, wrapping her crying form in a slow, careful hug.
Arora simply let her tears flow for several minutes as she leaned against his shoulder, saying nothing.
________
Eventually, they both sat down on the ground, ready to have a completely honest conversation for the first time ever.
Arbus cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Alright then, where to start... I'm Arbus Kaelen, son of Joren Kaelen and Angel Grimm. My grandfather is Nash Kaelen, Ruler of Tarok. I'm also half-Tarokian and half-human."
Arora chuckled slightly at his formal introduction, then responded in kind.
"I'm Arora... well, I don't really know my last name, so I usually just repeat my first one twice. I'm thirteen years old. I'm not sure who my parents are since I was abandoned at a very young age. My favorite caretaker is Mr. Raymond, and my best friend is Santa Claus. Oh, and I'm also human."
Arbus raised an eyebrow. "Santa Claus? That's a weird name. Must be a weird guy."
Arora giggled. "It's not weird back on the planet I'm from. He's someone who goes around giving good children gifts on the night before Christmas. That's a celebration back on Earth."
"Good children? What exactly do you mean by that?" Arbus asked, puzzled.
"Well, kids who were good all year long. Those who didn't cause trouble for others, always did their chores diligently, never got into fights, and so on. He'd also give the kids on his naughty list coal instead of gifts."
"That seems a bit pointless, honestly. All that seems pretty natural" Arbus said with a frown. "But this guy must be really powerful. Probably commander level at the very least, if he can do all that in one night."
"Seems like a weird way to utilize your powers, if you ask me. It's also really creepy that he's always watching children to make sure they don't do anything naughty."
Arora placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, that does seem pretty strange... but it's alright since it's Santa. Also, I technically never met him. I only talked to him through letters. He'd always make sure he was never seen by anyone."
"That just makes him seem even weirder," Arbus muttered, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Anyway, where were we?" Arora asked, changing the topic.
"You were telling me about your life," Arbus reminded her.
"Oh right. I was raised in an orphanage. I didn't really have any real friends there. Although there were a few kids far younger than me that I looked after from time to time."
She paused for a moment, her expression growing distant.
"I can't really remember how I died, or the day leading up to it. But after I did, I ended up in a white void, where I met a really nice being called the Primordial."
Arbus frowned slightly at the mention of her death, and then the Primordial. "Primordial. I think I heard you say that before. What... or more precisely, who is that exactly?"