Down The Stairs

The group continued down the stairs as they lifted Cyrus on their back.

"Let me go already!" he yelled.

"You were just sitting there with a blank expression, we called out to you and you didn't answer us. So to prevent you from blacking out again, we will be your chaperones!" Edith said as she led the charge down the stairs with Vito in the middle and Terra in the back holding Cyrus.

"I'm fully conscious so let me go!" Cyrus complained.

Eventually, they let him go and Cyrus patted himself down. He took a glance at Edith who had the biggest smile he had seen on her till now and knew she was enjoying it instantly.

Edith was having fun as usually it was Cyrus who would tease her by doing something or saying something in a scenario that would make her red, so it was nice to have a little fun turning the tables around.

Edith continued skipping down the stairs with her arms swinging out.

"Come on guys, this way!" she yelled as she excitedly kept going.

Cyrus reluctantly followed despite feeling violated, just a few moments ago.

'What could have her so excited?' Vito asked himself.

As they continued moving the rooms got darker and darker until finally, it was almost pitch black.

"Uhm, Edith!?" Terra called as they entered the darkness, but there was no response.

"Edith? Where'd you go?" Vito asked as it was now dark to the point that his eyes needed a moment to adjust clearing before he could properly see.

"Don't worry just, she's just hiding behind that pillar over there thinking that she is smart," Cyrus said pointing in a direction that nobody could see in.

'What direction?' They thought.

"Damn you Cyrus, did you have to call me out!? And how can you even see in here, don't you wear glasses?" she asked as she was still lying by the pillar.

"I wear glasses, I'm not blind. I probably see even better than you" Cyrus commented as he knew this would hit a small nerve.

Edith brushed this off and flipped a switch that illuminated the area with bright blue lights that were interchanging into purple, red, green, and yellow. 

'As if,' she thought.

"Woah!" Terra said, "Is this an-"

"Aquarium," Vito finished.

"I was going to say that," Terra whispered as he turned his head to the side.

Cyrus took note of that, 'Terra moves his head around when he feels like his spotlight has been stolen from him.'

"It is," Edith said with stars glittering in her eyes, "But I don't know who turned off the lights, luckily I knew where they were."

"I've always wanted to go to one of these. But how is this even possible? There are so many fish."

"Well, Alex seems to have his way with things that just wouldn't make sense to us," Vito said.

"Wow, what is that?" Terra said as he leaned against the window of a fish tank.

The water and lights that were glowing could be seen sparkling in his eyes.

"They look like goldfish," he said.

"They are Adolfo Cories," Cyrus said.

"That too, I guess," Terra said.

"No, Terra they actually are, look down beneath, its name is right there," Cyrus said trying to ferment his point but Terra's eyes of wonder were glued to the fish.

"Looks like he has never been to one of these either," Vito said to Cyrus.

Edith heard Vito's comment loud and clear and sneered, "Well not all of us had the opportunity to go to these, so if you don't like it then-"

"No I like it, I like it. It's impressive that there even is one. Oh look, is that an Eel?" Vito said feigning excitement.

Edith saw this and just laughed it off, "It is. But that's not the exciting part. These fish are categorized by letters, there is one for each letter and sometimes more. The ones I really wanna see are down the hall."

Edith started walking down and Cyrus pulled Terra away from the window, others he would not leave.

The Aquarium was filled with lots of different fish that were placed in separate tanks next to one another. This was done to prevent the fish from consuming one another.

The group saw many different fish, from Angelfish to Betta Fish, to Lionfish, and even Mandarin fish. There truly was a fish for every letter.

Then they had finally reached the O section.

This was where Edith had stopped.

"This is it, this is what I wanted to see," she said.

The entire group was looking at an Orca. And it was a big one at that. Edith was marveling at it with her mouth hanging slightly open as she saw it.

She had wanted to see it before but didn't have the chance as she was attacked by one of the servants of Alex and had accidentally broken his arm, so she didn't have time to reach the O section yet, but now she finally could.

Edith stared so long at it that she didn't move. It was like she was in a trace.

Cyrus so how she was now and she looked vulnerable, like a memory was resurfacing, he took a look at Terra who was also deeply interested in it and then he took a look at Vito, who was looking at Edith.

Seeing this, he grabbed Terra and started pulling him along. "Okay guys, we'll be right back, Terra wants to keep looking at that goldfish we saw earlier."

Terra heard this and felt himself being dragged, "Huh!? noo! What I really wanna see is an otter."

"You already did, now let's go!" Cyrus snaped at him and took him away.

They were now going back where they had come from and were quite some distance away from the other two.

"Yeah, but that otter was made on water!" Terra complained.

As they were going back up, they came across lion seals and Cyrus stopped in his tracks for a second.

One Lion Seal approached him and stared at him with its arms flapping downwards, it then went upside down with its tummy on top and then turned around again to place its nose on the glass.

Cyrus saw this and had a neutral expression, he then walked up to it, placed his finger on the part of the glass that had the nose on it, and then said to himself with a smile, "Cute."

"Hey! That's not fair Cyrus, You got to see the Lion Seal, I guess some matters are more important than others to you, aren't they!"

"Ugh! Come on Terra let's go already!" Cyrus said as they kept going forward.

"But why are we leaving so soon? Is something going to happen?"

Cyrus looked forward as they were rushing out of there but the smile that was on his face could be seen as plain as day, "They are having a moment."

As they reached the staircase Cyrus saw what he wanted, the switch to control the buttons.

"This is what I wanted," he said as he changed the default color of the place to blue.

"Why that color?" Terra asked.

"Because blue is the superior color. Now let's leave, we'll come see those otters later."

Hearing this Terra was thrilled, they would still come around to check up on those otters back there. So he happily walked out with Cyrus.

****

Back to Edith and Vito, neither of them had said a word since Cyrus and Terra had left.

But Vito was the first one to say something.

"You really like Orcas don't you?"

"I-, I love them," she said not looking away from it.

"Is there any particular reason why?" Vito asked hoping he could conversate with her, but after a short moment of silence he decided that he didn't want to push it because if she wanted to share it then she would, so he tried to draw back on it, "You don't have to if you don't want to you know, I was just asking."

There was another small silence between the two. And then Edith broke it.

"An Orca saved my life once."

Vito was in shock hearing this, "It did?" he asked to make sure he was paying attention properly.

"When I was younger my dad to me to an Ocean in Norway, he said he wanted to show me the world. There were two other men with us and we went by boat. The whole thing was supposed to be a relaxing event and it was to make up for how busy he was all year around. It was also my birthday gift."

"As we were by the rails, he was lifting me up to get a better view of it all but then he got a phone call, it was business he called it. He put me down and said he would be back. After he left, me being all small and curious, I decided to climb on top of the rails to get a better view of it all, one slip up later and I fell in."

"I couldn't swim, he never taught me yet, he didn't have the time and there was water entering my mouth so I couldn't shout for help either. The boat was fast, one moment it was in perfect vision and the next it was fading."

"The water was cold and felt deep, I was sinking and asking myself, 'Is this how I die?' The only comfort being that I might be with my mother in the end. I didn't want to die, I was so scared."

"The next moment I felt something touch my stomach and the next moment I was being lifted up on top of the sea. It was an Orca, and it was taking me where the shipped at gone. There wasn't a lot of water that got in my mouth because I had closed it, so I coughed it out."

"Next thing I knew I had arrived on the ship to my Father who was worried sick that I was missing. When he found out what happened, he quit his job and we moved to a new city where he worked fixing cars with me helping him. This was the scariest moment of my life Vito."

"And is also the reason my Dad wouldn't let me go anywhere without him knowing where I am."

Vito could now see tears falling down her eyes, and it made him feel a pain like no other. He wanted to comfort her but he didn't know if he should or if she would let him.

"Do you want a hug?" he asked concerned.

"It's fine," she said trying to smile.

There was another small silence between the two.

And then Edith spoke once more, "I hate being scared, it doesn't bring good memories, which is why I hated it yesterday when you tried to kill off Terra. Why would you do it? Why would you try and take another's human life?"

When Vito heard this question it hit him hard. He didn't exactly want to answer this question, he didn't even expect her to ask him it directly. But he knew that it would be necessary for him to make up with her and get her to be more comfortable around him, at least to what it once was. And then it would grow from there.

He needed to tell her the truth. She was being vulnerable with him and now it was his turn to be vulnerable with her.

"Let me tell you a little about myself Edith, maybe that will make what I'm about to say much easier to understand."

He spoke low but calm.