The Bird and the Garden 2: Restart!

Chapter 20: The Beginning

Disclaimer: Music is not mine. Secret Betrayal belongs to FromSoftware and originates from Dark Souls III. Video itself belongs to the creator.

And so it finally begins. In this chapter, Y/N and Vao learn the ugly truth. But what will they do, when they realize what happened to Ruby? Will they give up? Will they stop their search?

...

Y/N finally reacted when his scroll rang. Sasha and Cardin had left to find something for him to eat, and thus he was all alone. He reached for the device, glancing at the caller ID.

It was his mother. Y/N couldn't face her. He couldn't talk to her. Not with the guilt that weighed on his shoulders. Rojo's dying words echoed in his head.

'Now you're just like me.'

A murderer. Self-defense didn't matter to Y/N. In his eyes, he was nothing more than a murderer. When he first dreamt of going to Beacon Academy, he wanted to be a hero. His definition of a hero; someone who never took lives. Someone who brought justice, without harming anyone else. And while Rojo did not deserve to live, it still weighed on Y/N's shoulders, like a weight that crushed him into the ground. Crushed his spirit.

He set the scroll to the side, letting it ring until it finally went silent. And a few seconds later, it rang again. Y/N didn't react. On the seventh attempt calling him, Y/N finally picked it up. Summer had never been this persistent. He answered the call, pressing the device to his ear.

["Oh! Oh, Y/N! Th-thank goodness! Where are you!? Are you alright!?"]

Y/N couldn't muster the courage to speak. He didn't even need to. Summer continued speaking regardless.

["Y/N, come home. Come back to Patch, please! I... I know what happened. That man, that... That monster. Baby, it's not your fault! Please come home!"]

Not his fault. That was the worst joke Y/N had ever heard. Of course it was his fault. It was his weapon that carved through Rojo's chest. His hands the moved for the killing blow. But at the same time, he couldn't deny his mother's request. Not when she sounded close to an emotional breakdown.

"... O... Okay..." He hung up after that, taking a moment to himself before sliding the device back into his pocket. Standing from Junior's bed, he walked to the nightstand where his katana rested in it's sheath. Sasha had cleaned the bloodstained blade, but the memory was still fresh in Y/N's mind. His fingers trembled as he reached out, gently grazing the cold steel. With a shaky breath, he lifted it up, strapping it back to the left side of his hip.

It carried a new weight. Not physically, but mentally. What was once a weapon he built for the sole purpose of slaying monsters had become something Y/N feared. All throughout Signal, he had been taught that weapons were more than capable of taking a life. But never before had Y/N felt the power in that lesson on this scale. With a sigh, he opened the door, not bothering to close it as he stepped into the hall.

A closet door opened, Vao stumbling out with Verde, holding his scroll an entire foot away from his ear. Even from the other end of the hall, Y/N could hear Raven screaming fiercely at him.

"Alright, alright! I'll be right over! You don't have to shout at me!" Vao hung up, jamming the scroll back in his pocket. When he saw Y/N, he waved.

"Oh, you're finally up." Y/N watched as he and Verde approached, the artist clinging to Vao closer than usual. The femboy wasn't smiling as he stopped in front of his younger brother. "Hey, uh... How're you doing?"

Y/N didn't answer. He just stared half-heartedly. Vao felt incredibly awkward, his free hand twirling his hair around his index finger. "So, um... My mum just called me. Said she wanted me back home, I can bring Verde, all that. Wot about you, bruv? Did Auntie call you?"