[Discontinued] Yet Another World (Re:ZeroxRWBY)

5. Burden of a Knight

Subaru wearily opened his eyes, remnants of tears lined down across his face. He just woke up again, having a hard time sleeping. Like a nightmare he can't overcome, vivid yet depressing, it seems every night that passed followed the same formula: he would wake up in the middle of the night and would try to go back to sleep again, only to cry and repeat the process after.

With nothing better to do, he dotted his eyes around to check what's going on. He can conclude that he was still in team RWBY's dorm and that it was still in the middle of the night. His eyes then dotted back to what laid in front of his eyes, his spirit, Beatrice. He lightly smiled, seeing how peaceful she looked as she slept next to him, with her small and delicate hand holding his.

Though it soon faded into a worrisome frown yet again, his true self showing, his true pathetic, weak, and depressed self. He was having an urge to do the deed he was always told not to do by his contracted spirit. He resented it, loathed it, hated the act that he always did whenever he felt this way. But it was necessary because it was the only way he could calm down.

His face trembled in fear as he was not sure what to decide on. But alas, he broke his promise once more, turning away from his spirit's gaze and revealing his bare forearm, complete with scars of both old and new wounds of his previous sessions of self-harm, and traces of black lines through his veins, pulsing and travelling through his arm like a living parasite, indicating the presence of the cursed dragon blood. However, before he could do that, he heard a voice coming from behind. A small and sleepy voice, that of a little girl as she tugged at his tracksuit.

"Subaru? What's wrong, I suppose?"

He looked down, not wanting to turn back, revealing his forearm yet again towards her, an arm that had been healed so many times for the past year. He was afraid, afraid of the outcome of his Beatrice crying once again, although she is stronger and was used to it, he still trembled about that single thought of making her sad. He cannot answer, not because he does not want to, but because he can't. He can't reveal to her what he was about to do.

Enough courage won't even make him turn towards her, not capable of facing her in this state. But then, he felt a nudge on his body, Beatrice's forehead placed herself onto his back. She hugged him close to her, not wanting to let go of her Subaru that she knew was going through something. She does not want him to do it again, it pains her for seeing him doing that and keeping it a secret to only him and her alone.

"Betty knowz what you are going to do, I suppose" Her voice is wavering, "Betty doesn't want to see it, in fact."

"Beatrice..." He muttered, with fear being an underlying tone of his voice as he called her.

Beatrice knows if he said her real name means that something is wrong. She understood her contractor better than anyone else, that he is a lonely man who often uses a mask to hide what he would call, "his true pathetic personality". That he always tries his best to be a better person, yet self-hating at the same time. She wanted to support him whenever she can, and hugging him tight like this is one way for her to get the message across.

"Please....don't hurt yourself, I suppose. Betty knows you are lonely, but please don't, in fact. Betty's here to support you whenever Betty's Subaru needs it." Her voice kept trembling.

"Why are you doing this?" Subaru responded in a somber tone

"Just answer what's wrong and face Betty, I suppose. Subaru knows what Betty's talking about, in fact."

He pondered for a moment, deciding whether to listen to her or not. She's stubborn and won't back down easily by just ignoring her, meaning there's only one thing that could be done to defuse this situation. He chose to turn his body around to face her. Beatrice adjusted herself to around his eye level so they could see each other better. Subaru observed the expression of hers, full of sadness and worry for him. It forced him to answer her, but he began to grit his teeth and clench his fist, preventing him from doing so.