The Bird and the Garden 3: The Final Adventure

Chapter 20: Happy Thoughts

Sasha screamed and pulled against her restraints as the Second Ironwood and the First Winter worked over her legs, working to apply prosthetics.

"Stop it! Stop, it hurts!" She screamed. They flinched. They had never seen Sasha cry before. But with no anesthetic, they didn't have a choice. If that thing came back, if it found them in the Graveyard, they wouldn't get away a second time.

In the twisting, winding halls of the empty Atlas medical facility, the survivors had been thrown away from the First Vao. They didn't know where he was; he could be nearby, or he could be far away.

Yin was lying on his own medical gurney, his prosthetic removed. He didn't have legs, and he only had one arm, staring at the ceiling as Ironwood's soldiers repaired them. Verde had gone into shock, her bloodied arm stump wrapped in a reddened bandage. Vao was next to her, his limbs in a cast. He tried to fight them when they gave him a separate gurney.

Russell was in a wheelchair, whimpering as his legs recovered. Cardin was breathing through a tube, his armor having punctured his stomach. Blake's head had been heavily wrapped in bandages, only her eyes visible. Her skin was horrible burnt, leaving blackened skin behind. Weiss, like Yin, had the least severe wounds. Her bones were scarred, and while she lost a lot of blood she was able to at least walk with crutches.

But Sasha was knocking on death's door, Verde had gone into shock, and one of Vao's kidneys was damaged. General Winter sighed, leaving the therapy to the Second Timeline's General.

"... You have no idea just how..." She trailed off, regaining her composure. "... Just how FUCKING lucky you are," she hissed. "Branwen is a monster. And you lot were dumb enough to pick a fight."

The First Yin, lying on his gurney with a heart monitor, scoffed. "She's right," he growled. "Not even I wanted to go against that... If he had taken it seriously from the start... I don't think even I would have made it."

The sheer power had been enough to traumatize Team FRSB and their friends. Even if their lives had been horrible, they were nothing but grateful they didn't live in the First Timeline. It was a long, agonizing moment of silence, with the only sound being Sasha's cries, pleading for Ironwood to just let her die. And finally, Verde spoke.

"... D... During the fight," she whispered shakily. Everyone turned to the genius. "... He knew everything that was going on, even when he couldn't see it..."

The First Yin grumbled something under his breath. "... Probably the Blood. We've all seen that shit; it's practically got a mind of its own."

Verde looked up at him, her face deathly pale. "... I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Was he infected when he killed Summer?"

Her question made Yin stop. He didn't know how the hell she figured that out. That was a secret between himself and Vao. He never told anyone after the cannibal confessed to it in his Reality. His silence only turned eyes to him. Verde continued.

"... He wasn't. It showed in how much he regretted killing Summer," she whispered shakily. "The Blood... I've studied it, injected it into my own body. It whittles down reasoning; you become obsessed with killing, and sometimes even cannibalism. You hold regrets for every kill, but never to the extent you'll have a psychotic meltdown. The moment Sasha mentioned that Summer couldn't fight back when he killed her, he cried. And moments later, he took down every last one of us in less than a minute."

The Hero of Light's lips curled into a bitter smirk. "... Yeah. You're a fuckin' genius. We get it," he growled. General Winter frowned.

"... Answer the question," she demanded.