DDLC: Revelance

Chapter Seventeen

I buried Sayori along with the rest of the graves of all the people who died in the invasion. If Natsuki and her were right about Monika, then I had not one, but two things to worry about. And I'm not going to let Sayori's death be in vain.

I stood up, setting down the bowtie, the last remembrance of Sayori's life, onto her grave and looked at the full moon. A breeze whistled by, fluttering the picture of me and Sayori posing for a selfie that was nailed on the wooden cross above the burial.

Yuri happened to be by me, setting down a bouquet of flowers below the red bowtie, and supergluing a poem, written by her, on the cross right above the photo. A sudden drop splashed on my knee. Another drop smacked my hair, dragging my head up towards the sky.

A thunder of lightning clapped in the distance, illuminating the slowly darkening sky for a brief moment. I placed my palm on the grave one last time, and gave myself time to grieve silently.

I stood up and walked with Natsuki and Yuri back home. My radio watch vibrated, sending waves of surprise throughout my arm. I tapped on the screen, bringing up the holographic interface, and answering Wix, who was just out of the medbay a few hours ago.

"Wix?", I called, still in grief over Sayori.

"Exonus. I heard what happened.", he stated. I could hear him faintly tearing up through the hissing static. "I... You knew I loved her, right?"

"Yeah. It hurts all the same."

"Mhm. We used to talk about what we would do when we got married, have a child, all that sort of stuff. Hearing what had just happened, I can't help but.."

I could hear him sucking back his tears. I was crying too, and nothing couldn't have hurt us more than this.

"Yeah. It hurt me, Wix. I cared about her too. We all miss her."

"I know. I just wish she had passed away in battle, instead of like this."

I just let myself breathe for a while in silence.

"Same. I just know that she's gone. Nothing's gonna give her back. We both know that, right?"

"Obviously. I'll see you down there, Exonus. But, do you know why she did it?"

I didn't say a word for a moment. As the clouds above boomed and showered down water, I stayed silent.

"Yeah. Someone told her to.", I finally admitted, with a slight tinge of anger.

"Who?"

I exhaled deeply. "Monika."

"Her?", he sputtered, confused. "Why?"

"I don't know. I'll see you on the ground."

"You too, Exonus."

I ended the call, and looked at the two girls that were with me.

"You think Monika is truly responsible for her death?", Yuri asked me.

"Maybe. If Sayori's right."

"Those were her last words? Monika told her to do it?", questioned Natsuki.

"Yeah. Seemed like it."

I walked inside my house, relieving me from the stormy night outside. The Portrait of Markov was still on the coffee table. My cold, shaky fingers grasped the book itself and lifted it up right at index finger distance. I felt a pulsing, faintly painful, and disturbing sensation emanating and exuding from the pages themselves, almost as if they were trying to force my hands to open the book, and read it even more. I resisted, setting the book down onto the table, not willing to let this Thetyr being get through and destroy all of existence.