Arc 36 - Step Forward

Nazar and Emma showed up in a place he did not know about.

“Is this the right place?” Nazar asked as he looked around.

There was no one around.

“Yes, but I think they might be still at the cemetery.” Emma replied.

Nazar used his powers to look around and found the funeral site.

He and Emma vanished again and this time they ended up in the right place.

They arrived when everyone had left, except for the close family.

They appeared a few meters behind the rest of their family, who were still standing next to the grave.

Emma was wearing blue jeans and white t-shirt. Because she left from their living room, she did not have anything on her shoes.

Nazar noticed that and said, “Shouldn’t you wear all black in a funeral?”

Emma looked down at herself and then nodded.

Nazar twitched his fingers and Emma’s clothes changed into a complete black dress. She was also wearing shoes now.

Emma looked like she was about to cry. She is a very emotional person.

Nazar looked at her and said, “Don’t worry, I am here with you.”

With her teary expression, she forced a little smile on her face.

“Anyway, what do I say to them?”

“Just say something like; I am sorry for your loss.”

Emma started walking towards them, but Nazar was a little hesitant.

Emma walked for a few seconds and looked back.

“Remember what we talked about?”

“Talked about?”

“Refer to them as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’.”

Nazar sighed and then smiled.

While Nazar was still standing, the people who were standing next to the grave also started to leave.

Her mother and father was about to leave but when they noticed Emma next to them, they stayed with her.

Nazar watched from afar. He became invisible to everyone, except his sister and his foster parents. Of course, Mary and John had not noticed him.

Emma and her parents were standing next to the grave for a few minutes until Emma said something and they all turned around.

A few meters away Nazar was standing.

They were surprised to see him there.

Nazar walked towards them.

(I hope this not too awkward… but it's time that I stop running away.)

(No, stop. Don’t go.)

Nazar shook his head right and left.

(No… its time to move forward.)

He walked to up to them and stood less than a meter away from them.

(Come one say it.)

“I am sorry for your loss…( say it.) mom… dad.”

Upon hearing that, they froze due to shock. As an empath, Nazar could see their negative emotions being devoured by the positive emotions.

“Nazar…?” Mary said as she hugged him.

A few seconds later, John hugged him too.

“You know, we never could have our own children, so this why we made you and Emma part of our family… but you don’t know how happy we are today. Today you accepted us as your family too.” John said while hugging Nazar.

“I… am sorry for everything,” Nazar said slowly. “And thank you for everything.”

They stood there and talked about the deceased person for a few minutes or so.

After a while, they started to walk away from the grave.

“I need to get going now,” Nazar said as he stopped moving.

“Where?” Emma asked.

“Well...”

“Come with us,” Mary said.

“That might not be a good idea,” Nazar said as he tilted his head to the right a little.

“Didn’t you say something like; I don’t want to run away anymore?” Emma said.

Nazar frowned upon hearing that.

“Are you going to keep bringing that up?”

Emma smiled at that.

“Anyway, come with us,” John said as he placed a smile on his face. “All this time, my mother and the rest of our family wanted to meet you and I don’t think you or they will get a better opportunity than this.”

“...” Nazar sighed. “Okay, I will come there a few minutes later.”

“I will stay behind. Just in case if he escapes.”

Emma and Nazar stayed behind as their parents left.

“So, why did you stay behind?” Emma asked.

“Well… it is going to be very awkward.” Nazar chuckled.

“You know, if it wasn’t for you, mom and dad would have never recovered from grandma’s death. She was so dear to all of us.”

“And what does that have to me?” Nazar asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

“If you had not been here, they would have taken this much harder. But when you called them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, did you see their expressions?”

“It is true that there was happiness in their eyes and heart, but there was also sadness and anger… and fear.”

“...”

“I can see it within you too. You still fear me. And so does Emily, Aria, Laura, and everyone around me. I don’t blame any of you but sometimes it is hard to sit by when they try and push down the negative emotions forcefully.”

Emma sighed.

“You do know why that is, right?” As Emma said that, they slowly started to walk.

“I know it is my fault and of course I couldn’t care less if you forgive me or not, but I just want you to be honest with me too. I can see that you are still trying to push the negative emotions down and bring up the positive emotions.”

“I am not trying to push them down. I… am actually finally starting to understand why you are like this. It is true that I still fear you, but it is your job to remove that fear from us. Start with… I don’t know, be more friendly with us? Visit us more often? Have fun with us?”

Nazar let out a deep sigh.

“Why am I getting lectured by kids?”

“I am not a kid.”

“Well, I mean people younger than me.”

“And who else lectures you?”

“My cousin.”

Emma was surprised to hear that. Nazar had not told her about Aria. He did show her fragments of Aria with the whole reality warping thing, but Nazar did not show Emma anything about their relationship.

“Cousin?”

“Did I not tell you about her?”

“No?” Emma replied with a puzzled expression.

“You won’t believe what I am about to tell you.”

Nazar then told her about Aria. About what happened to her and what she did.

Emma found herself speechless once more.

“Man… no wonder why you are like this.”

Both Nazar and Emma laughed.

“Not going to lie, my biological family is weird. And you guys are way too forgiving.”

As Nazar said that, his smile slowly vanished.

“Anyway, what else have you lied to me about?”

Emma continued to talk as she looked ahead.

“Hmm… a few weeks ago on Tuesday, it was not me there. It was just a clone.”

As she heard that, she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah, I am sorry about that too.”

“...And what else?”

“When I returned after 1 year, I was only with you guys for a few minutes. I froze your brain and I filled it useless memories of us being together. I… just wanted to keep the act up.”

She seemed truly hurt by that.

“And what about now?”

“I promise, I am not a clone or anything else.”

Emma smiled and said, “That’s good.”

There was a little silence.

Nazar turned his gaze towards Emma and noticed something.

“Have you grown taller?”

“Yeah, by like a centimetre or two.”

“...”

“...”

There was silence again.

Then Nazar noticed where he was going.

Emma and Nazar just left the cemetery after their parents, who were waiting in the car right in front of the cemetery.

Emma was about to open the car door, but Nazar stopped her.

“Anyway, I don’t think I should go.”

Emma turned her gaze towards him.

“Why?”

Nazar raised his right hand and touched the back of his head with it.

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to scare them. And even if they don’t show it, I can still ‘see’ their emotions.”

“Come on, it will be fine.” Emma paused. “You can turn off your powers, right?”

“Yes?”

“Then turn them off. Be a normal human for the next few hours.”

“...Okay.” He paused. “I just need to conceal my presence from everything.”

He closed his eyes and once he opened it, he had removed his powers and had concealed himself.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked as she tilted her head in puzzlement.

“Unless I am in front of you, you will never be able to find me, no matter if you are using powers or technology.”

Emma raised her eyebrows in amazement.

After a few minutes, the car stopped and they reached their grandmother’s house.

John and Mary walked towards the door and they walked in. It looked like they had a key.

Emma was about to enter too, but Nazar seemed a little hesitant.

Emma stopped and looked back.

“Here.” Emma reached her hand. “Hold my hand if you are scared.”

Nazar narrowed his eyebrows a little.

“I have faced a demon, angel, and talked to a fallen angel.” Nazar started to brag. “This should be a piece of cake.”

Nonetheless, he held her hand and walked in.

Nazar closed the door and they were in the house now. In a house where he will meet so many new people, he did not know existed.

Nazar closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

(Why… am I nervous?)

Emma walked into the living room.

Her cousins noticed her and were surprised to see her.

There were about 10 other people in the room beside Emma’s parents.

“Emma? When did you get here?”

“Oh, I just came here with my brother.”

The others were surprised to hear that.

“Brother?”

“Nazar, was it?”

Emma nodded.

“Come in,” Emma said.

At that moment Nazar walked through the door.

He was wearing his black clothes.

As he walked through and was visible to everyone, they were all frozen in their place.

“Na-Na-Nazar?”

“N-no way...”

They all looked scared and surprised. Even without his powers, he could tell.

“It was a bad idea,” Nazar whispered into Emma’s ear.

“...”

(Turn on powers.)

“I will go now, but don’t worry, I will come back and get tomorrow.” Nazar continued to whisper to Emma. “I want you to meet someone.”

And just like that, he did not even wait for Emma’s response. He vanished into thin air, which startled a few people.

“Wh-what?”

“Where did he go?”

The chatter in the room increased. And Emma just sighed.

----------------------------------------------------

Heaven:

Aarin just got back to the heaven. She has been away for a week now.

She came out of the portal and found Anaiel standing in front of the portal.

Anaiel is a little shorter than Aarin. She has black hair and black eyes.

“Did you forget the rules of heaven?” Anaiel said as soon as Aarin came out of the portal.

“Someone I knew was in trouble,” Aarin replied immediately.

She stood in the main heaven.

All around her were angels in white dresses flying around.

There was something that resembled buildings. They were all coloured silver.

Aarin tried to walk past Anaiel, but she held her by the arm.

“You broke many rules, Aarin,” Anaiel said. “You favoured one over the other. You stayed in a mortal universe for more than a few days.” She paused. “And more than that, you met with Lucifer.”

“I didn’t meet him. He was just there.”

Anaiel lowered her voice and said, “Michael was very angry.”

“I don’t care...”

“So, you're telling me that you will betray all of us just for that human, whom you think as your son?”

Anaiel let go of Aarin’s arm.

“I am not betraying anyone. He was in trouble and I helped him. Plus, I owed him.”

“We are angels. We are the creations of the Supreme One. We are not supposed to choose one over the other.”

Aarin looked back towards Anaiel.

“So, you are telling that I should have just watched him die thousands of times?” Aarin paused. “He died over 20,000 times in the first week. Then he was gone for a whole week. And when he came back, he was being hunted again.”

“I saved him from there, but I couldn’t do anything to heal him.” Aarin was on the brink of tears, so she looked down. “Another week passed and he died more than 30,000 times in front of my eyes. Then, a mysterious being came and saved him.”

“I couldn’t do anything for him.” Aarin continued. ”I am an angel. Creation of the Supreme One. So, why is it that I couldn’t even save someone I cared so much about?” She turned her gaze towards Anaiel. “What would you have done?”

“...”

Aarin slowly walked away from Anaiel.

“Just know this, Michael is not happy.”

Aarin stopped walking.

“When is he ever happy?” Aarin said as she turned around to face Anaiel. “When was the last time he was happy? What does he do besides sit in his study and cry over his defeat by the hands of Lucifer thousands of years ago? What kind of leader is he?”

“You are right, Aarin.” A voice came out of nowhere.

Aarin looked around and saw no one.

As she was looking around, she saw a shadow on the ground.

She looked up and saw a man with white wings, brown hair and brown eyes. He was a little taller than Aarin. It was Michael.

“What kind of leader am I?” Michael spoke. “I am still crying over my defeat at the hands of Lucifer.” He paused. “But what are you? To show such strong feelings towards a fallen angel and a human?”

Aarin smirked.

“If I could change it, I would but at least I am not sitting in a room crying over something that happened thousands of years ago.” Aarin paused. “Tell me something, Michael. What do you really do as a leader? We angels don’t do anything. We have tremendous power. So, what is the point of your position?”

“...”

“Or are we just here so we can be butchered in order for you to increase your power?” Aarin paused. “We are angels. We should be doing what we used to do; help people and make life easier for them.”

“...”

“...”

Both Anaiel and Michael did not say anything.

“You know what is happening around the multiverse right now, right?”

Michael did not say anything again, but instead just nodded.

“Then why are you not doing anything?” Aarin said. “I would if I could, but my powers are much lower than you. So, I cannot do anything against someone like the Nameless One, but you can. So, why are you still here and watching?”

“...”

Aarin did not get an answer from Michael.

Aarin then turned her gaze towards Anaiel.

“You, Anaiel, the Angel of Pride, who is also a high-class angel, so what are you going to do?”

“...”

She did not get any answer from her either.

Aarin chuckled and said, “Figured that would be your answer.”

She turned around and was about to start walking but she stopped.

“I really don’t care what you do to me. Kill me. Depower me. Anything you want, I couldn’t care less. The only reason I wanted the power in the first place was to save Earth and it is saved now.”

She just walked away and left both Michael and Anaiel behind.

----------------------------------------------------

Planet Xiem - Vanaha Empire:

Iket Xehz left his pod. He was furious.

Once he got up, his son was standing there, still doing something on the computer.

The person known as Mother was also there. She looked as calm as ever.

“”

Iket lowered his head a little.

“” He looked back up. “”

“”

She finally lost her cool. She raised her voice and both Iket and Kiet started to tremble.

“”

“”

She turned around and was about to walk away, but looked back a little.

“”

Iket looked up in surprise.

“

“”

“”

“”

“”

“”

He was surprised to hear that.

“”

He tried to ask, but the woman just smiled.

Iket looked down a little and said nothing.

“”

She continued to smile and said, “”

Just as she said that she walked out of the dome-shaped room.

Iket just stood there and his son was still doing something on the computer.