46 Waved Back

"We're here." Arius smiled as he exited the car, followed by Asrael.

"Move it!" Delorah hissed, ushering the two beside her out of the way.

"Stop kicking! Be more ladylike!" Scolded Berite while being pushed out of the vehicle.

"I hope you get stabbed and end up having to beg me for treatment!"

"You're such a witch! I bet that's why Rana's father left you!" Bertie snapped back. It was in their nature to nitpick and offend eachother as much as possible.

"Well it's his loss!"

"Shut it! The both of you!" Asrael threatened, then scanned all three of them with his gaze. "Go and round up the others!"

______

The black fence stood high, and they parked the cars under the coverage of pine trees, so hopefully they wouldn't be discovered. Arius and Asrael stood together, and only a few meters away there was a meeting of eighteen people. The darkness really gave a slightly spooky vibe, but it also seemed calm.

"Where's Dante?" Arius was looking around the property that was illuminated by only a few lights coming from inside the mansion.

"Why do you call him that?" Asrael sounded slightly irritated.

"Call who what?"

"Why do you call Durante, 'Dante'?"

"Dante is short of Durante."

"Dante is not his name, it's Durante." Asrael suddenly seemed like he cared at all what people called his brother.

"He likes being called Dante, so I'll leave it at that." Arius didn't want to argue, but Asrael wasn't so easy to beat in a verbal contest.

"He only likes it because you're the one calling him that."

"Yet in the end that still means he likes it." Arius began smiling, even if he was on the edge of an argument.

"Alright, how do you know he doesn't secretly hate it, and only tolerates it?" Asrael looked arrogantly up at Arius, who stood almost a head taller.

"Your brother is very expressive of his emotions." Arius grinned from ear to ear.

"Thats-" Asrael had already lost.

"True?" Arius finished for him. Asrael didn't dare say another word.

They watched as the groups split up and scattered, hiding among bushes and the tree foliage. Within his peripheral vision, Arius saw a little boy dash over to him with sparkling eyes and a bunny onesie. Asrael quickly averted his gaze, evidently noticing the boy as well.

Arius turned to face the incoming attention with a warm grin, then moved to crouch. He'd noticed since this morning how Asrael avoided confronting Dante, so he left it alone in hopes that it signified a change. It was weird the way Eirik's power could change years upon years of learned behavior, it was insane and almost unreasonable. It didn't simply put the idea of a fear in your head, and instead made you live that fear. Fear was a strong thing that someone shouldn't underestimate, though it was still strange how Eirik's ability worked.

The cute bunny dove into Arius's embrace, shocking multiple people a few meters away. They'd all sort of assumed that Dante was naturally detached and indifferent to people, being that everytime they tried to get close to him he'd only ever respond with few words or a small grunt. The only person in the gang that he didn't ignore was Delorah, and even then he wasn't all that interested.

"How is my dear son?" Arius suddenly planted a theory into a few minds. Was this man the true father of Dante!? Though they didn't quite look similar, they both had the same hair and eye color.

Delorah moved slightly closer, she didn't hear or see any indications from Asrael, but instead heard Dante say: "It's awful, I don't know where... 'she' is."

"Don't worry, that's why we're here, to look for 'Zuna'." Arius assumed that Dante forgot her name. Little did he know, the boy simply couldn't figure out the correct way to address her. She had apparantly adopted his brother, so he didn't exactly know if she was now 'mommy' or still 'Zuna'.

Dante still nodded, despite his inner uncertainty. Then, his gaze shifted, and once he focused on the older women with healthy black hair, he lifted his small hand and waved. In returned, she waved back.