Chapter 21: Home
Arbus's eyes fluttered open slowly as he watched the twin suns set—allowing dusk to once again envelop the world in its warm embrace. He felt the blue grass beneath him shift against his crimson red skin, a peaceful feeling rising up in his heart.
After several moments of enjoying the soothing calm, his brows furrowed slightly as he began to sense something amiss about the tantalising scene. "Wait... Where am I?"
His eyes opened fully as he glanced around. He brought his arms up, noticing the bracelet tied to his wrist and the calluses on his palms, especially between the fingers he always used to draw back his bow whenever he went hunting.
"Strange," he whispered with a small frown, remembering all of these had disappeared when he acquired his ability.
Just as he moved to get up, a shadow suddenly enveloped him, its size made larger by the setting suns now peeking from below the horizon.
"Hey grumpy... what are you brooding about now, lying around here like a panda?" Arbus slowly looked up, his eyes quickly widening at the sight of the girl in front of him. "A... Arora?"
"Well, at least that's what I think pandas do. I never actually got to see one, since they went extinct and all, according to the books." The girl rambled on, seemingly oblivious to his confused expression.
Finally, she stopped talking for a moment as she turned to him again. Arbus suddenly realised he couldn't see the girl's face clearly for some reason, even when his eyesight was far too powerful to be obstructed by the twin suns' rays.
Nonetheless, he squinted, trying to get a better look. "Arora, is that... actually you?" he muttered, his hand reaching forward instinctively.
A chill suddenly grasped Arbus's heart as he felt the girl in front of him smile, despite not being able to see her face. "Of course it's me, silly," she said with a hint of exasperation in her tone.
She leaned forward, her obscured features getting closer to his.
"After all, who else would it be?" the girl in front of him said as her eyes suddenly blazed brightly with a dark light that broke through the shroud clouding her face. "~Besides your best friend in the world~"
Arbus shot up in a panic, his heart racing as beads of sweat formed slowly on his temples. He glanced around his dishevelled bed, taking in his small room as he calmed himself slowly.
"It's just a dream." he muttered to himself with a heavy sigh as he ran his hand through his messy crimson hair.
He stared at his colourful wall for several moments, deep in thought. "I guess these are back." he murmured to himself with a joyless chuckle.
Over three weeks now had passed since the Terytl-B incident occurred. Every time he slept for the last few weeks, he would be thrown into various nightmares that had to do with experiencing the slaughter of Terytl-B from a first person perspective. He'd watch as Ronin grabbed him and dragged him across the planet to gaze at the corpses of the people he'd killed. Over and over and over again. Granted, variations naturally began to occur, but that was always the main premise of his nightmares.
But today, he had gotten one that he hadn't seen for almost a year now—since he joined the Renegades. A dream of his best friend.
After what felt like a long while, Arbus massaged his eyelids with his fingers, then scratched the tip of his nose. "Time to face another day."
"Hopefully, the last one in this place," he grumbled, his gaze wandering his room for a few moments.
It was a small, cluttered room with brightly coloured walls painted with shades of red, blue, green and yellow.
Colours he'd painted himself years ago when he'd first arrived here. They were his mother's favourite set of colours that she'd always shown a certain level of bias towards.
His younger self had done it to remind him of his real home.
The one he couldn't go back to, since it had long since been destroyed.
He looked away from the walls as he rose to his feet, heading out of the room to get ready for the day.
Arbus stepped into the living room after he was done preparing, feeling refreshed and ready for the day.
His eyes swept over his living room walls, windows, and furniture as a melancholic emotion began budding in them. He remembered sitting around with his master and playing a few games he didn't quite understand at first—not saying anything later on when he discovered his master was simply exploiting Arbus's lack of knowledge to win against a child.
It was one of the few times he saw the gruff Tarokian general with decades of history under the Renegade ranks smile. He made sure not to ruin the game for him, always pushing down his competitive spirit.
Arbus let out a small smile as he walked forward, the tips of his fingers tracing the walls. He brought his hand up with a curious expression on his face. "Seriously, not a single ounce of dust, even after weeks of searching everywhere. Whoever kept this place intact must have been an expert." He mused.
His house had been far cleaner than he had expected when he returned here after over a decade.
Even his old clothes were as good as new, after all that time. They were still too small for him though, so he'd still ended up relying on the administrative Renegades who brought him back here on Ophilia's orders. He couldn't go into the refugee town not too far from his house without causing a stir after all this time, so he asked for their help with that instead.
He wasn't sure who had been taking care of it while he was away, but no one else had appeared around the property since his arrival.
He had even wondered if it was his master's doing at one point.
He naturally dismissed that thought.
His master might have been retired, but he knew he still had a lot of things to take care of. After all, it was hard for a Heart-shard user to simply 'retire' after being given all that power by the organisation.
He'd eventually just guessed that his master had assigned someone else to take care of this old house until his return.
Still, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of his master being forced to do housework.
The house would probably be long gone.
Eventually, he turned to a table by the side of the living room with a look of hesitation.
He walked over, placing his hand on the drawer's handle.
"..."
He opened it up, slowly taking out the only item he had stored inside it years ago—having been unable to bear the pain he felt when he held it before.
It was the item he had seen in his dream earlier, and the same one from his memories with his father. It possessed the ability to shift the colour of his skin when worn.
A powerful bracelet his mother had crafted for him years ago., And also, the only thing he still had to remember his friend by.