“That Nathaniel Hope is a depraved, insane man,” Nova remarked. “He created artificial humans to help the world, yet I can tell he has other nefarious reasons for doing it.”

“Why do Shifties remind me of you? Have you met Nathaniel before?”

In response, Nova had a rather disgusted expression that quickly changed into a hurt one. He sighed. “I just hope it’s a coincidence…”

Arcturus placed a hand on Nova’s head. He rubbed his hair. As he pulled back, he gave him a smile. “Tell me whenever you’re ready. Don’t force it out, okay? I don’t want you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.”

His words caused Nova’s entire face to become pink. Arcturus felt bad. He wasn’t sweet-talking to him intentionally. He was just spewing out his genuine feelings. He did not want to disrespect Nova in any way.

He thought about this because he knew he was going to stay by Nova’s side when he woke up. It wasn’t a forced option; it was his choice. He wanted to know more about Nova and to be with him.

“These feelings I sense from you…are they there because you don’t want to be alone?” Nova quipped.

Arcturus became shocked. He became tongue-tied and hesitant. Nova’s words were the truth, but he had a hard time admitting it; he did not understand why he was acting this way.

When he laid eyes on Nova once again, an image of Kori came to him. It confused him. Nova and Kori were two different people; now that he had realized the similarities between Nova and Shifities, he found it hard to separate the two.

He now found his own feelings confusing. Did he want to be by Nova’s side to ease his own loneliness? Was he trying to squeeze himself into Nova’s life because he had regrets about Kori that he could not fulfill?

Soon, he found it hard to distinguish the two. Looking at Nova made Arcturus see Kori. He quickly clutched his head to shake it off; he was aware that they were not the same person. He kept shaking his head in denial.

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His accumulating negative thoughts vanished instantly when Nova placed a hand on his shoulders. “Arcturus, tell me. Do you see Kori as someone who’s alive?”

Nova’s serious expression made Arcturus realize Nova’s intent on helping him overcome these uneasy feelings. Looking at Nova, he only saw the lavender-eyed man and not his lop eared friend. He felt at ease, though. He felt as if he was able to think about Kori properly. His disarrayed thoughts became concise.

“Kori was a living being. He breathed, emoted and behaved like a real human. I’ve been with him for four years, so that is just my own biased opinion. There might be those out there who might not think Shifties aren’t alive, but I believe they are.”

“Even if they weren’t created naturally?”

“Even if they cannot age or procreate, they’re still alive. They’re still people. Kori is like you, in a way. You’re both mysterious and don’t seem like real people, yet you both breathe, emote and behave like a real person.”

Nova seemed rather exasperated. “Are you implying I’m a robot? I’m one hundred percent human.”

Arcturus shook his head. “No, I’m trying to say that you and Kori are unlike normal people and that’s okay. It’s okay to be different. I feel the same way.”

Nova seemed rather intrigued by his words. “Does your wish involve being different?”

“My wish is something that I believe will change the world.”

Once again, he lost his timing to tell Nova. Instead, he had a proposition. “Nova, can you hear this request of mine?”

“Go ahead.” Nova responded unsurely.

“I keep hesitating when telling you my wish. My negative thoughts are a product of an incident that had happened months ago that involved Kori and me. I have a hard time sleeping because of this, but when I fell from that trap door, I had a dream about him. It made me feel really sad, to the point that I cried. I feel like this emotional baggage is a hindrance to me and clouds my thoughts to prevent me from thinking clearly. If it’s possible, can you show me my memory of when I lost Kori? I believe that I can move on from this ordeal if I have closure.”

Nova looked surprised with his request, but it made him happy. He reached his hand out. “Gladly.”

Like how he fell into this realm, Arcturus grabbed Nova’s hand and closed his eyes, awaiting to find himself in his past memory and hope for a closure.