Chapter 518: The Truth He Left Behind

Silence settled in the room after Orion spoke.

The fire crackled softly in the hearth, the only sound that filled the space. Its warm glow flickered across the walls, across the bed, across Orion’s bowed head where he sat at the edge of the mattress.

Sophia stared at him. Her throat felt dry.

"By it," she said slowly. "Do you mean death?"

Orion gave a slow nod. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Sophia swallowed at that. She didn’t know what to say. She had no idea... no, she shook her head. She had been expecting something simple, not something like this. Not something as heavy as this.

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She opened it again but nothing came out and she closed it back.

"This was why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you would react this way," he said softly.

Sophia ignored his words.

"W...what do you feel now?" she asked him.

Orion leaned slightly, resting his forearms on his thighs. For a moment he said nothing, his gaze fixed somewhere on the wooden floor.

Then he spoke.

"A part of me doesn’t want to go," he said, voice soft. "Death has taken enough from me already."

His voice remained calm, but it carried a weight that pressed heavily into the quiet room.

"My parents," he said softly. "My sister... uncles, aunts, even friends. People I care about."

Sophia felt her chest tighten.

Orion rubbed a hand over the back of his neck before continuing.

"But then I remembered I still have people here." His eyes lifted slightly then.

A faint smile touched his lips, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"They may not be my parents," he said, "and they may not be my sister or the family I lost, but they’re still family."

Orion glanced at the fire.

"I can only imagine what Ronan would do," he murmured.

Sophia huffed a small breath through her nose.

Orion didn’t want to even think about how his best friend turned brother would react if he died.

"Lysander would pretend he’s calm while planning something reckless," he added. "Like trying to experiment with how to bring me back to life, and I know my stupid friends would support him."

"And I know it would probably be with tears... if the others don’t cry then Tobias will, and adult he may be but he’s still treated like the youngest in our group," Orion said with a laugh.

He inhaled slowly before speaking again.

"And then there’s you."

Sophia froze.

Orion finally turned his head to look at her.

"I don’t want to imagine what you’d do," he said.

Sophia held his gaze.

The firelight reflected faintly in her eyes.

"So I want to stay," Orion said.

His voice was steady.

"I want to stay here with them. With all of you. I don’t want to imagine life without you all or you all living life without me... it’d be rather boring, don’t you think?" he asked her.

Sophia nodded as she sniffled.

Orion continued.

"And besides," he added, "you’ll change the vision. You’ve done it before and I... I think you can do it again."

Sophia blinked and wiped her tears quickly, then nodded.

"So shorty, stop thinking about things like this," Orion said gently. "You should get some rest."

Sophia didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she studied his face carefully.

"Is that the truth?" she asked quietly.

"I can’t lie," he told her.

Sophia nodded slightly.

"I know you can’t lie." Her gaze remained steady on him. "But you can skirt around it."

Orion’s lips twitched faintly.

Sophia leaned her head back against the pillows.

"I’ve told you everything you need to know," he told her. "And I’ll suggest again that you get some rest."

Sophia nodded as Orion stood up from where he was seated.

"Don’t overthink what I said," he told her.

"That’s a lot to ask," Sophia told him softly.

"I know, and that’s why I wanted to keep this to myself. But... can you at least try?" he asked her.

Sophia studied his face again.

Then she nodded.

"I’ll try."

That made Orion smile. He lifted a hand and gave her a small wave.

"Rest."

Sophia didn’t argue this time. She nodded and watched him walk out the door.

It wasn’t until Orion stepped outside the house and began his walk to the office that Noctis spoke up.

*You didn’t tell her everything.*

Orion didn’t stop walking.

"I know. I didn’t want to worry her more and that’s why I told her only what she needed to know."

*She wanted to know everything but you skillfully evaded it.*

Orion’s jaw tightened faintly. "I also know that," he told Noctis. "But can you imagine how she would react if she learned the whole truth? She was already crying from just hearing a part of it. Imagine how she would behave if she found out that while a part of me wants her to change what we saw, there’s a part of me too that hasn’t changed but has accepted the fact that I am going to die."

"That it’s inevitable. I can’t avoid it. That it occupies my thoughts, and I almost blurted it out to her. And that even though I want her to change what we saw... that is just a small part. I’m fucking divided, Noctis, and this is not even fifty-fifty. It’s more eighty-twenty," Orion said.

Noctis was quiet. He didn’t say anything. Orion had already accepted it after all, there was little he could do to convince him otherwise.

*But what if she changes it?* Noctis asked Orion.

"You of all people know that I want that. But I also don’t want it," Orion told him. "Honestly, I don’t want to die in Sophia’s arms."

Another beat of silence passed before Noctis spoke.

*You are conflicted.*

Orion nodded.

*Perhaps visiting your favorite place will clear your head?*

"My favorite place has changed to Sophia. Wherever she is, is my favorite place."

*Not Sophia. Perhaps the tree you often visit, or maybe your parents, or that place where you always put your feet in?* Noctis suggested.

Orion sighed. "Maybe some other time. We have things to do after all. And me and you have things to talk about."