The Bird and the Garden 3: The Final Adventure

Chapter 47: Before Ragna

The house stood in the shade of the buildings that loomed over it, seemingly abandoned. But people lived there. Twisted, evil people with cursed hearts, living on the brink of complete insanity.

And just inside, a man with one eye and the appearance of a woman finished assembling his weapon. The bloodstains on the cursed axe's blade would never come off, but at least it would remain functional as long as he cared for it. The First Vao sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his deathly cold hands across his face.

He felt very distracted. Mono had done more than startle him; she invaded his thoughts. It hadn't been more than two hours since they had last spoken, and yet he found himself thinking about her when he tried not to. He picked at his chin, trying to twist her words around to make himself feel a bit better. But no matter what, he couldn't deny that she had shown she genuinely cared about his well-being. Something he wasn't used to; with Cinder, it had required multiple attempts to try and talk to someone about what was happening before she'd even look at him without a hostile glance.

Not Mono. From the very beginning, she had been kind to him. He didn't quite get it. A shadow loomed over him, a thin and skeletal elbow resting against his shoulder.

(("... You seem bothered."))

The First Vao didn't reply to the hallucination of his long dead aunt for a long while. Minutes passed before he heaved a sigh, folding his Grimm Demise and clipping it back to his belt. "... Auntie, am I... A-am I worth caring about...?"

Summer blinked, raising an eyebrow. (("... You?")) She hissed. (("Of course not. Are you that stupid to ask the obvious questions? You little murderer, you~!"))

He was used to her taunts by now. Summer took every opportunity she could to point out that he barely had the right to call himself a human. He was the worst one; a manipulative cannibal who killed others to reach his dream. Even though that, in his eye, it didn't really matter anymore. If he failed, they'd all come back, and he'd kill them again. And if he succeeded, they'd come back and he could finally live the life he dreamed of - everybody in the Cult could live at peace.

That didn't mean her words didn't affect him. They still hurt. With a quiet sigh, he stood up from his desk, shuffling towards his door and pulling it open. He peered down the dark halls, looking left and right before taking the right. His boots creaked against the ground, his fingernails digging into his sleeves as he scratched at his arms. He wanted answers.

He stopped in front of the door to the one who plagued his thoughts, hesitantly reaching his hand out and knocking gently. He could hear footsteps approaching the other side, the door swinging open.

Mono was still in her uniform, a broom in her hand. She must have been cleaning her room. When her grey eye stopped on him, she bent at the waist and bowed. "... Good afternoon, Milord. Is something the matter? Do you need anything?"

The First Vao didn't like how formal she was. Had he been imagining her tone earlier? And when he thought about it, why had she even been on his bed in the first place? He was beginning to connect the dots. His red eye looked up at the taller woman, his voice quiet.

"... Can we... Chat?"

Mono's polite smile fell, a worried look taking over the formality in her large grey eye. He hadn't been imagining it at all. "... Of course, Milord. Please, come inside."

The tea was already waiting on her nightstand when he stepped in. Mono must have stopped time to prepare it for them. As he carefully stepped past the Cult leader, he looked around warily.

Mono's room was one of the few rooms he never entered. Another one was Jack's room. He never had a reason to. He gazed around, noting the cleanliness of Mono's private quarters. Not a speck of dust was in sight, everything kept neat and tidy. Even her bookshelf was organized in alphabetical order and genre. Mono closed the door behind them, sliding the lock into place. He appreciated that. Normally being locked in a room with someone else would send him into a panic and start a killing spree, but Mono was different. She had proven more than once she was worth trusting. The maid walked past him, sitting down on the bed politely. She watched him almost expectantly, waiting for him to take a seat.