𝙷𝚢𝚙𝚗𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 ~ 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 ?

𝙹. 𝙹𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚒 ~ 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙰𝚛𝚎, 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝙰𝚖

This story is an alternate storyline/ending to Labyrinth Wall, however you don't necessarily need to read Labyrinth Wall first.

"Maybe he's just not home..."

You carefully open the door, unable to look into the apartment. "It is dark. Perhaps... he is not home after all." Jakurai's voice sounds almost like a whisper. You take a shaky breath before stepping into the apartment. He's right; there are no lights on. "Yotsutsuji..?" you try shouting, but your voice comes out a lot weaker than what you were hoping for. As you look down the only hallway, you notice there is in fact one light on.

You cautiously make your way towards the bathroom, heartbeat increasing for each step you take. The door is somewhat open, letting the light spread enough to reach the wall in front of the opening. Jakurai slowly follows you, only to suddenly stop as you yourself freeze.

"Why..? Even now I feel like I can hear her voice... But she's not mom. J-Jakurai isn't dad either, and he never will be. I just want to escape! Why won't you let me escape?!"

Jakurai watches you as you bring a hand up to cover your mouth. He can tell you're tempted to speak up, however he calmly touches your shoulders, urging you to keep quiet just a little longer.

"People at school too... They all hate me! Why do I have to look like this?! Why do I have to look so weak?! If I do this... That'll make me look weak too, wouldn't it? I can't even fight myself... I just want my parents back. That's all I want. I just want to see them again. But... They felt like my parents too... They cared about me... I don't want to lose them too..."

You turn around to look at Jakurai with a distraught expression, making him wrap his arms around you before lowering his head to whisper in your ear. "Just a little longer. I am not sure we would be able to get him to tell us this any other way." You nod against him, letting him squeeze you tightly before you turn around to focus on Yotsutsuji's words again.

"What if... what if they only pretended to care about me..? So that they wouldn't have the blood of a patient on their hands..? What if they only tried to make things better so that I could leave the hospital? So that they never had to see me again? Did they... Did they not actually love me?!"

You both flinch as Yotsutsuji raises his voice. Jakurai can't help but move a little closer to the door, his worried expression making you widen your eyes. As you hear a metal object gently hit the sink, your heart drops.

"I don't care anymore. I don't care if it makes me look weak! I don't want to live like this anymore! I don't want to live-"

"Yotsutsuji!"

Jakurai's loud voice echoing throughout the apartment startles both you and the small boy, however you quickly regain yourself to run over to him and throw your arms around Yotsutsuji as he drops his knife. You can't stop yourself from sobbing into his hair, hugging him tightly as you slowly start to feel his grip around you too. Jakurai doesn't hesitate to join you either, pulling you both against him as Yotsutsuji starts crying into your sweater.

"Yotsutsuji..."

Your soft voice causes him to cling onto you tighter, muffling his apologies against your chest as you continue to hide your tears in his hair. The three of you stay in the bathroom for a while, waiting for Yotsutsuji to calm his breathing. Realizing he's struggling to calm down, you bring your hands up to his head, gently stroking his hair as you had learned from the past months that it's the best way to calm him down.

"I'm so sorry..." He breathes against your chest, his body trembling as the realization of the situation hits him. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be." You mumble into his hair. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault, you didn't deserve any of this." Moving around you to kneel in front of him, Jakurai gently caresses Yotsutsuji's cheek with his hand. "We wanted you to live with one of us. That was our original plan, however..." Jakurai lets out a careful chuckle as he pauses to look at you before bringing his attention back to the confused boy in front of him.