The Bird and the Garden 2: Restart!

Epilogue: Don't Leave Me

Hello again. I ended up changing my mind about the epilogue. Thus, here it is.

It's short, but it's basically how Cardin is doing after the events of TBatG2, and takes place just before the timeline is reset (while Y/N was in Salem's Reality, time flew by much quicker because Salem was an eldritch abomination and not human). So to make a long story short, Cardin is the main focus of the epilogue.

Cardin is now twenty-six at the time this epilogue takes place.

Enjoy.

...

The clouds hung in the overcast sky as the man trudged up the hill, his hands in his pockets, his blue eyes staring at the grass that passed beneath his feet. His ginger hair, speckled with flecks of grey from his overwhelming stress, was ruffled in the chilly autumn breeze.

His name was Cardin Winchester. He was known as a hero, someone who had risked everything to save the world.

A title he hated. He hated being a hero. He loathed what it had cost him - the lives of everyone he cared about. He had been the sole survivor. He ran a hand through his hair, fighting back tears as the tombstones came into view, dark and dreary atop the hill. He stopped in front of them, reading the names to himself quietly.

Vao Branwen. Verde Forest. Blake Belladonna. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao-Long. Russell Thrush. Raven Branwen. Tai Xiao-Long. Summer Rose. Bartholomew Oobleck. Ruby Rose. Sasha Steel. Y/N Rose.

They had been his best friends. People he had loved dearly, people he had thought of as family.

But it was all over, now. They had died in their three year battle. One by one, he had lost them. Cardin lowered himself into a sitting position, bringing his knees to his chest. His armor clanked as he moved, his mace resting beside him.

Three years had passed since Y/N died to take Salem with him. He didn't even have any remains to bury - he had just vanished without a trace. Not even his weapon could be recovered. The only survivor of Y/N and Vao's family had been their uncle, Qrow Branwen. But just last year he had committed suicide, unable to keep going. Cardin wasn't a liar; he had thought of taking his own life, too. But he never could. He felt like a coward for fearing death.

Cardin stared at the graves in silence, a hard lump growing in his throat. And in a choked voice, he spoke softly.

"... W-we... P-promised we'd meet a-again... After V-Vao died..." He whispered hoarsely. "... I... K-kept my promise..."

He wished someone would answer. If Vao was here, he would have said something absurd to lighten up the mood. Or perhaps he'd have one of those moments, where he'd say something intelligent and helpful. He wished Y/N was here to pat him on the back. He wished Yang was here to tell him a joke. He wished Weiss was there to distract him from his thoughts. He wished Verde was there to change the subject. He wished Blake was there to sit in silence with him. He wished Russell was there to tell him everything was going to be okay. He wished Sasha, the woman he had fallen for, was there to hold his hand.

But they weren't. They never would be. Cardin was alone. Without friends, and only his mother left as family. Every time he went back to Patch to visit her, he'd pass the empty houses of his childhood friends, vacant and decaying, with overgrown, untended yards.

He wasn't the only one affected, and he knew that. Melanie had lost several of her friends, including Vao and her twin sister. Ironwood had lost his daughter, and resigned his position in the military, deeming himself mentally unfit to lead. Tyrian still continued to work at Beacon with Cardin, but the scorpion wasn't very talkative anymore. He didn't even make his classes fun anymore; he would scream at students for talking out of turn, or slacking off in class, always haunted by his nightmares.

He wiped at his eyes, sniffling quietly. "... I k-kept my promise... Even if you guys d-didn't..."

Finally he broke down. His head fell forward into his knees. He hated this. He hated it all. It shouldn't have ended this way.

He wanted to be a kid again. He wanted to go to school and hear Vao's flirtatious comments that would make him confused about himself and hear him argue with Y/N. He wanted to hear Yang's terrible puns. He wanted to sit at the table in the cafeteria, surrounded by everyone he cared about. Shakily he crawled forward, to Vao's grave, and rested his hands on the rusted weapon Raven had left behind long ago.

Grimm Demise, the only relic he had of his friends. Rusted and broken, the weapon would never function again. And yet Cardin still ran his fingers over the cold, coarse rust, hot tears falling to his knees.

"I... M-miss you guys..."

He took a shaky breath in, a sob escaping his throat.

"... I-I love you g-guys..."

Y/N and Vao. Of all his friends, those two stood out the most. They had been the first ones to make him feel welcome when he moved to Patch so many years ago. And it all started with a fist fight.

When Cardin pulled away, he stood back up. His breath had begun to stutter, and he was having a hard time talking.

"... We promised!" He screamed. "We promised we'd come back! That no one would die after Vao!"

In a way, they were there, Cardin thought to himself. They just weren't there the way they had wanted. Cardin punched his fist into the grass, falling to his knees and dropping his forehead into the ground.

"Please," he whispered. His back arched as he breathed, heaving through the lump in his throat. "P-please...

Don't leave me alone..."