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I nodded as Orlando remained where he stood, staring at the tiled floor.
"I'll be around. If either of you needs me, just say my name and I'll teleport back," Mom said, and with one final glance between us, she left the room.
We were both silent, neither attempting to make conversation. Eventually, Orlando sighed heavily and strolled over to the bed.
"May I sit here?" He pointed to the spot on my left.
I shrugged. "Sure. It's Mom's bed. Not mine."
He didn't say anything but sat down and, once again, an awkward silence lingered in the room.
I didn't know what to say. More importantly, I didn't know how I felt. Even with everything Mom and Harrison had said, I didn't think it was enough for me to give him another chance.
It made me wonder if I was too forgiving, and if I should allow him to struggle to regain my trust. He'd already gained it once, and it felt like he threw it onto the ground and stomped on it as if it didn't mean a thing to him.
"Celestia I-"
"What? You're sorry?" I asked, lifting my gaze to meet his. "That's all you're going to say. I'm sorry for discarding my daughter when she needed me the most. I'm sorry for making promises I couldn't keep. I'm sorry for having a stupid secretary who can't even tell me how many times you’ve come over to my office to see me! If you think saying 'I'm sorry' is going to cut it this time, it won't." I huffed, unsure why I was suddenly so angry.
"Celestia, I was going to do more than just apologize," Orlando whispered.
"What more is there to do or say?" I asked before I sighed. "I find out I have not one, but four dads. I realize the reason you and Mom have tension is that you're stuck at Aslan while she's stuck here, both of you living your dream without each other. Regardless of whatever the reasoning was, look how many times I asked for Mom, whether it was during our video calls or even when I desperately needed someone to talk to. Doesn't it bother you that in the end, you're apparently my main dad, or however it works, and Magnor did a better job at being a father, even when I didn't know it?!"
"Yes, Celestia. It bothers me," Father muttered. I paused in my rant at his broken tone. He sounded as if he'd hit rock bottom.
"When I found out that Charlotte was pregnant with you, after everything we'd gone through, I was ecstatic. Words couldn't even describe how happy I was to be a dad, but I was also scared, Celestia." Orlando pulled the hair tie out of his hair. His hands ran through the long strands that almost looked like they shimmered up close and he took a deep breath before he continued. "I never experienced what it was like to have a parent, Celestia. I didn't have a father figure or mother figure. I honestly don't remember what my parents look like."
I stared at him in confusion. "You...didn't know your parents?"
"No. It isn't talked about because it was many decades ago, but there was a time when there was a major Forsaken outbreak, and surprisingly enough, they were intelligent enough back then to hunt specific species."
Orlando stared up at the ceiling and paused for a moment before he spoke again. "From the last bits that I remember, there wasn't any warning. It was like any other day, and suddenly everyone was being killed left and right. Charlotte says I probably remember that specific event because of how horrific it was. I can't remember anything after that. I just knew I had to run and, in the end, I was alone. For a few years, I lived in the wilderness and had to defend myself without any help from others. Eventually, I found a man who helped me for a little bit, but due to desperate times he wanted to sell me to Hunters."
I was silent, and my gut dropped at his story, not even realizing Dad had ever been through something so traumatic. He had a nostalgic smile on his face as he went on.
"Honestly, at that point, I decided it would have been better to be alone. Why bother meeting people if I always had to worry about them setting me up for Hunters. Our kind is almost extinct, and there weren’t many of us before the forsaken attack. I trained myself every day and soon heard about Aslan Academy. I decided to give it a shot and thankfully made it. That was where I met Magnor before we met your mother."
He lowered his head and gave me a heartbroken look. "A bad habit of mine is I don't handle stress really well. Instead of taking a moment to absorb everything, I kind of just pile it up, one after another and in the end, I focus on things that aren't really the priority. My mind tells me whatever subject I was thinking about at that very moment has absolute priority, even if it’s far from the most important thing to focus on. When anything else grabs my attention, I automatically put it to the side to think about later, though it could be something extremely important."
He rubbed at his eyes, and I noticed he was trying not to cry from the way he blinked continuously at an unusual pace. "The secretary delivered all your messages and every night before I'd leave the office, I'd want to come over...I did a few times...but..."
"But?" I pressed.
"It's stupid, but I didn't want to bother you. I'd been such a shitty father, and I regretted leaving and lying to you. None of us wanted this life for you. Not I, or Magnor, Hellsin, or Harrison. Jeez, Charlotte broke down when she had to go back to Alpha Pure because we had to be so secretive so that we won’t get hacked or discovered, and that's why she had to stop sending letters. We never wanted our Blessed Child to be hurt by the society we currently live in and sadly enough, that's exactly what happened."
"You could have just told me. Just been honest," I mumbled.
"Celestia. As parents, we're supposed to shield you from the burden this world brings and dumps on everyone. We should have been your rock to lean on, and that's what we wished for. To give you a future where the Council and their agenda wouldn't control you. We fell right into their trap, one by one, and that left us looking like horrible people to our own child who had hope in us. You believed in us, and even when times were hard, you didn't complain until it was too much for you to bear."
I glanced away to hide my eyes that were filling with tears as I bit my lip. "Why couldn't Magnor have said something?" I asked.
"He almost did. Now that I know what happened during your childhood, it kind of makes sense," Orlando acknowledged.
"What makes sense?"
"There was a night where Magnor teleported back here when I was visiting, and Hellsin, Harrison, and Charlotte were all present. It was the first time I'd seen Magnor break down and cry his eyes out."
A tear rolled down my cheek as I lowered my head, my ears listening in as Orlando continued.
