He wouldn’t blame her for not hugging him back, for pushing him away, for hating him. Even if she had truly forgiven him, he had done far too wrong by her for them to be on friendly terms. But this… this is beyond friendship, isn’t it? This is beyond what either of them believes or has done. This is about having literally no one else to cling onto, no one else who would understand.

If he tells himself Aera pretty much has no choice but to be nice to him, the fact that she’s so, so kind to him even now hurts a little less.

“It isn’t, but life has never been fair. Not to you, not to my family. I don’t know what we were supposed to do, I don’t know what the Astrals want. I thought I did, I thought-

I don’t know anymore, Oracle. Maybe it's a good place we're... here, wherever this is, if this is even real. Maybe we're meant to find our own path, now.”