32 Apologizing

They finished eating, and so Arius ended up doing the dishes. Dante helped of course.

Eirik, Zuna, and Asrael sat in the living area.

Both Zuna and Asrael were excited to torment the other, as if what was about to go down was a battle. Asrael was a rare breed, one that could make a one-sided punishment seem like an equal playing field.

Arius treated the matter with seriousness, while it seemed everyone but Eirik was simply wondering who would win. Arius was rather hesitant, but didn't try to stop them.

When they were all finally seated in the living area, Zuna began, "Okay Asrael, are you ready?" She dragged Eirik closer to the young man.

"Ready as I'll ever be." The challenge in his eyes irked her.

"Dad, don't go easy him." She looked at Eirik.

"Okay." As soon as he uttered that, Zuna brought Eirik's hand to Asraels shoulder.

A quietness followed, it was a brief moment but somehow it felt longer than that. Asrael leaned forward and put his face into his hands, when he started trembling Eirik ended it.

Zuna lost her previous grin, as it was replaced with a sudden realization. Seeing the boy like that suddenly made her feel like she'd gone too far. "Hey, you weren't too hard on him right?" She looked at her father. She figured he'd scream a bit and then that would be it.

"Of course not. I've learned not to listen to you when your drunk on revenge." He stated calmly.

Dante stood up and walked over with a frown, he might hate his bother but that didn't mean he wanted him to hurt.

Eirik held Zuna by the shoulder and led her away. He could tell that she was quickly regretting it, so he didn't want her to ponder on it.

It was all silent except for the boy's uneven breathing, until a trembling voice whispered, "Sorry." But who was he apologizing to?

'What a sequence of events.' Thought Arius as he stood up and walked over to sit next to him. There was no guarantee that he wasn't just acting, but the thought didn't pass through Arius's mind.

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.