76 Not Alone Anymore

For a moment, Zuna was silent, no longer making any sort of sound to indicate crying. It was strange that after calming down she hadn't struggled away from Arius, yet it still felt natural. As a few seconds passed, she finally asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Why did you want to die?"

Arius wasn't surprised by the question, but he was still a bit unprepared. "Do you really... want to know?"

"I want to know, but it's okay if you don't want to say..." Zuna mumbled softly.

"No- no, I'll tell you," Arius lifted one hand and put it on the top of her head, caressing her wispy hair. "I fell in love once, a long time ago. It's been so long that I've forgotten her name."

"You wanted to go with her when she died?"

"If only that was all it was." As he spoke he saw out of the corner of his eye, Dante, stepping down from the stairs. He didn't stop though, as he didn't mind him hearing it. He continued with a sort of rueful sadness in his voice, "I caused her death."

Arius saw Dante pick up the puppy, and as he spoke, they both locked eyes. The small boy sat on a section of the couch as he listened for Arius to continue, while he held the small fluff ball closely to his body.

Zuna noticed the movement, but gave no indication. She just untangled her arms and then wrapped them around Arius's waist.

"I took her out one day, I think the terran was full of greenery back then. I guess, I thought that I would be able to protect her no matter what." Arius looked down at Zuna's hair, which was the color of blonde spring honey. "I don't remember what it was, but we were attacked. I was overwhelmed and died, but when I woke up..."

Zuna moved her head so that she could see his face, he didn't look like a man in heartbreak. He looked sorrowful, as though he had already mourned enough, yet he still feels guilt. It was more than guilt though, because he felt too bad to ever forget it. "What was her name?"

Arius took a moment to answer, and then he lightly shook his head. "I tried too many times to die by destroying my brain in some way. Memories don't always come back with the brain matter. The age I say I am might not be too accurate either, I don't remember a time when I looked too much younger than Asrael."

Zuna tried to sound understanding as she spoke sympathetically. "I've been the reason for so many deaths, but... you've never had someone like I have my dad. You've almost always been alone."

"But..." Dante interjected. "You're not alone anymore ... dad."

Dante's way of address would have been enough to make Arius smile, and even more so what he said.

"Okay, but where did the little cutie come from?" Zuna lifted her index finger and pointed towards the pup.

"Oh! I rescued her~! She's like my new daughter."

"Her name is Azlia." Dante spoke.

"Azlia?" Arius was disoriented, but didn't put up a fight to name her. "Okay..."

"The name represents the desire to socialize."

"Good name." Zuna approved.

Arius finally separated from her, though only enough that she wasn't leaning on him. Zuna was the one that pulled away as she hurried over to Azlia.

"Eh? Zuna, your ability!" Arius was immediately thrown into panic, until his gaze was her with her calm eyes.

"I'm powerful enough to be able to hold back from affecting anything smaller than a little dog, relax." Zuna rolled her eyes.

"You're 'Powerful enough'?" Arius looked at her with questioning eyes.

"That's how abilities work, right? As they get stronger you can control them better." Zuna reached her hand out caress Azlia's soft white fur.

"Yea, but is that how the 'death radius' works? I thought you could only retract it."

"Nope! It depends a lot on the person or amount of people! The more life force and density, the worse off!"

"Huh." Arius stood as he began to speculate about her power. "I'm surprised you don't know any martial arts or evasion skills to avoid killing anyone."

Zuna sat next to Dante, keeping her sparkling eyes on Azlia. "I do know some evasion skills, though.

"Eh? You haven't seen you use any!'

"They take too much energy to use!"