Chapter Text
Arin and Lloyd sat silent for at least a minute. Arin's face kept itching and he was starting to wonder if it was infected or if this was normal. Lloyd looked to be in pain while sitting up. Arin's face kept decided to speak up first.
"Is there anything you wanted to say or something?" Arin asked and Lloyd turned towards him. "I think you know what I am going to say." Did he know? There were a lot of things Lloyd could say. "I want to hear you say it." Arin grumbled, his arms crossed as he leaned against the windowsill just above his head. Lloyd sighed. "I have a lot to say." He mumbled. "Just say it so we get this over with."
"I guess you don't really want to hear this, but I am sorry. I don't really have anything else to say, or anything I can say anyways. I don't have a big speech to say as nothing really excuses any of my actions or anything. So I just- I am sorry, thats all."
Arin sat silent, his arms crossed. Lloyd silently watched him, even though he didn't do anything, Arin suspected that he didn't know what to do with his eyes. Arin was a bit on the fence on forgiving Lloyd, cause there was part Arin was even sure Lloyd knew about.
Ras messed with Arin's head very badly. He twisted what Lloyd had said and made it all sound like it was an insult behind a compliment, or like there was a thorn hidden in it all. Arin knew Ras twisted the words by now, but it was hard to just forget it all.
Praise felt like cyanide hidden in honey and compliments like thorns on a rose. Any words Arin heard were twisted to sound like someone manipulating or trying to hurt him. Compliments twisted into insults and comfort into fear. Any sympathy felt like a knife to the chest. Turning away from those ideals was hard, but maybe forgiving Lloyd was a step in the right direction?
Even if Lloyd hurt Arin, he was aware that Lloyd did not want to do that. Lloyd was a naturally caring person and it was very clear that whatever Lloyd did, he did not mean it. Arin thought back on something his parents told him. "Forgiveness is the first step in healing."
Arin was a mess, but then again-
So was Lloyd.
"I want to turn away from this as well as I can."
Lloyd looked up from his hands and over at Arin. "I probably wont be able to do that to a full extent, but I can try." Arin looked at Lloyd and for the first time since Lloyd and Arin saw each other again, Arin smiled. It wasn't as wide as it used to be, nor as happy, but it was genuine.
"A good first step in healing is forgiveness. I forgive you. I wont forget it most likely, but I forgive you for it." Arin said, his head tilted to the side. Lloyd sat silent, then smiled back.
-A week later-
Arin and Lloyd were still not allowed to train and sitting quietly in the kitchen, doing their own things. Zane had proposed for Arin to write down all that happened with Ras and all his thoughts in a notebook, a diary of some sorts. A very depressing one, but a diary nonetheless.
Lloyd was reading or something. "How is your face?" Arin looked up at his teacher. "It's doing fine I think. Then again, I am not a medical expert." He answered. "Your wound?" Lloyd shrugged. "Better, still hurts sometimes. It doesn't help when I can't sleep."
Arin placed his pen on the table with a silent thud. "You still can't?" Arin asked. "No, can you?" Arin didn't answer as the answer was no. "Why?" He asked instead. "Visions, as usual." Arin cocked his head. "About what this time? We know what Sora's was about." Arin said and
Lloyd closed his book silently.
"Some figure keeps talking to me. A figure with red eyes keeps telling me to find them. I am tired of finding people." Arin smiled slightly for a second. "Well, are you going to try to find them?" Lloyd shrugged again. "Do I have a choice? I bet these visions will continue until I do."
Arin crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. All this talk about finding people remained Arin of the people he too had to find.
His parents.
Arin sighed. "I still have to find my parents." Arin mumbled and Lloyd looked at him sadly. "I know." He said, clearly not sure on what to say.
Arin's parents were obviously a sore subject that they had all avoided when Arin had recently returned to the monastery, but now most of them stayed away from the subject anyways as Arin could still snap sometimes.
"I still have to find them." Arin said. "And I am starting to get tired of pushing it up." Lloyd sighed. "I know." He repeated and Arin uncrossed his hands, leaning his elbows on the table, staring at his hands. "And now I have to deal with this weird power too."
Zane had asked him a few questions, but that was pretty much everything they had done about Arin's elemental power so far, as Arin was still too weak from his fight with Ras to do anything.
The two sat silent for a while. "I have an idea." Arin looked up, raising his eyebrows. "We look for both this person and your parents? I know you do not want to push it up anymore. We have no idea where the firgure or where your parents are, so we can look for them at the same time." It was a logical idea and Arin wasn't entirely against it.
Just then the door flew open. It was Kai with his hair on fire. "I think I might have pissed Wyldfyre off." He said and Arin heard a crash from somewhere else in the monastery. "KAI!" Kai paled and ran out the room.
Lloyd and Arin shared a look and a smile as he ran.
They all had issues, but they all could, with the help of the others, resolve them. They had support from all sides and always would. A mismatched and uneven family, but a family nonetheless. They weren't bound by blood, they were bound by care and love for each other.
They weren't perfect, but then again...
...who is?
-The END-
For now…