32 Apologizing (2/2)

He lifted his hand and put it on Asrael's upper back, the boy flinched a bit as Arius moved his palm in circles in attempt to comfort him. Arius pointed his chin toward the stairs, motioning for Dante to go up and wait. He had a tough time seeing Dantes sad eyes.

”What are you sorry for?” Arius tried saying casually, and after a period of deep breaths he got an answer.

”Everything.” Asrael choked. Arius had to wonder what the boy saw that shook him up so bad. They stayed this way for a while, only, Arius didn't know that Asrael was fighting the urge to cry.

His horror obviously went deeper than just an ordinary fear of clowns. Also, with the way Asrael was, Arius felt that it was more than just fear that he felt.

It was funny though, Asrael had seemed so confident, only to break down when finally faced with what he so easy believed he could beat.

Arius found that he had been right, Asrael ended up having a fragile heart. A fragile heart with an evil mind protecting it, only Asrael didn't expect someone to come along that could shake his defense.

Though for now, forget about finding out why, what mattered was what to do from there. What Arius wanted to avoid was Asrael being traumatized, yet it would still be hard to do that without knowing what Asrael saw.

As soon as Asrael stopped breathing so ruggedly, Arius saw an opening. ”I'm worried, you know?” His voice was gentle on reflex.

”About what?” There was a sharp edge in his shaking voice.

”You.” Arius spoke with concern. There was no answer, but he felt that he still got the message through to him.

Arius looked up when he heard foot steps, Zuna was on her way down the stairs. She had a look of remorse as she slowly made her way towards the two.

”I'm... here to atone for my sins!” Zuna stated loudly.

Silence followed, and soon Asrael stopped breathing heavily, and was no longer trembling. He chuckled wryly, confusing Arius and Zuna for a moment.

He looked up, he seemed calmer now, but he had a weird look to him. ”It's weird being apologized to, so stop.” It wasn't irratation, but self mock.