Page 43 of Celestia, Year Four

He was quiet for a long moment, and I felt his soft lips press against the flesh of my shoulder. It was an unexpected move, but I stayed still and relaxed, doing my best not to react in the wrong way.

If he apologized back then… would he have to reward his Master with affection? Is that how it worked?

Odion pulled away and I turned to look at him, noticing his eyes were glossy. Holding Momo in one hand, I reached out and pressed my hand softly against his cheek while staring into his eyes.

"See? I'm not going anywhere without you, understood?"

He slowly nodded, lifting his hand to rest it on top of my mine.

"Understood."

I smiled, and once he removed his hand, I lowered mine. "Do you have a plan of where we're going?"

I wasn't really sure what the plan for today was. I'd woken up to Esme bringing me breakfast and telling me to dress up because Odion wanted to check something out.

"We're going to see my brother real quick."

"We are?" I asked. "Um… is that safe?"

Seeing how Arielle stressed about me staying far away until things were figured out, I couldn't risk getting Orion in trouble or make him a target.

"You won't necessarily be you. You'll look… kind of like a shadow?"

"You mean… like the time in the forest when Finn and Magnor arrived?"

"Kinda… less scary."

"Wasn't that you?" I inquired.

"Kinda."

"Kinda?" I repeated.

"Confusing to explain," he replied and shrugged. "We won't go close unless we have to. Just want to check if he's okay."

"You care a lot about Orion," I commented with a grin.

His cheeks grew red and he glanced away. "Let's go."

I giggled quietly at his shyness and made my way down the stairs with Odion close behind. When we reached the bottom, I let Odion take the lead, but he reached back to slip his hand into my free hand and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you, Celestia," he mumbled, and the world shifted around us as a cloak of darkness wrapped around the two of us into a sphere.

I hope he'll let me in one day.

"BiBo!"Momo began running around the dark forest, looking at random black leaves.

"Won't she be tainted if she touches those?" I asked Odion as we walked hand in hand through the forest.

We were back on the other side but landed deep within a dark forest. I wasn't sure exactly where we were, whether it be nearAslan or in some different area entirely, but Odion looked like he knew where he was going.

"No. We're a different type of darkness, but the element is the same. It won't harm you either because you've survived the Dark World. I may have to give you a little boost from time to time because you're a unicorn shifter. Light will always be the strongest element, but a little darkness won't affect you in a harmful manner anymore."

"So… like the darkness that was hiding inside my body through the wound on my thigh. If it was after this occurrence, it wouldn't have had that weird effect on me?" I concluded.

"Exactly."

"Odion."

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