The Bird and the Garden 2: Restart!

Chapter 25: Calm Before the Storm

This will be a short chapter. I'm sorry.

...

Vao pried his attention away from Y/N, looking down at Verde, who was still unconscious in his lap. He gritted his teeth, fighting back his guilt.

"O-oh, bollocks... Y/N, help me take her to Beacon! We need to get her to the infirmary!" He pleaded. But to his surprise, horror, and anger, Y/N shook his head.

"N-no... I'm sorry, Vao. B-but I need to talk to my Mom... Sh-she might know... Whatever it is I just did..."

"Your mum...?" Vao echoed. He set Verde down gently, rising to his feet and staring up at him with fury. "We just fought our friend, and instead of getting help you want to talk to your fucking mum!? Is that all Verde was worth to you!?"

"She was our enemy, Vao! She's been drinking Salem's Blood, if we help her she could attack us again!" Y/N snapped back. "Look at your shoulder, you're bleeding everywhere for crying out loud!"

"You think I give a pissin' shit!?" Vao screamed back. "We can at least try to help her! Try to find a cure, or something! Whatever you did took away those monster parts, so maybe that helped! I don't know, just help me carry her!"

Y/N was getting angry. Now was not the time for Vao to be emotional about his relationship. "Wake up, Vao! She ended up just like Ruby!"

"You don't know that, you cunt!"

Cardin tried to intervene, only to get screamed at by both of them. He backed away, holding his hands out in front of him defensively. Y/N glared at Vao. "You think I wanted to hurt one of my best friends!? You think I want to be trying to save Ruby from something like this!? After seeing what Salem's Blood did to Verde, I-I'm not even sure we CAN save Ruby! That stuff drove Verde insane! And she was the most calm member of our entire team!" He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. "V-Vao... I'm not helping you... We're setting ourselves up for danger... We need to focus on Salem, a-and..."

Vao stared at him blankly for a moment. And then without warning, without hesitation, he swung his fist and punched Y/N square in the nose, crushing the cartilage under the force of his knuckles. The katana-wielder stumbled back, clutching his bloodied nose in pain. Yang and Weiss were already approaching. "Vao!" The heiress screeched. "We get that you're upset, but you don't have the right to hit him!"

Her face fell when she saw Vao's expression. She had never seen him this furious before. Even after all the times he was picked on for his low intelligence, he never let it get to him this much.

"All of you... You're a bunch of backstabbers..." He growled angrily. "So if it was me or Sasha, you'd leave us to die too? Is that it!? Wot kind of fucking friends are you!?"

"Vao, wait-" Yang tried to say. But Vao ignored her, picking up Verde on his back.

"I... I can't believe I turned out to be the best person in FRSB... Me, the guy who forced everyone to join a mafia... The guy who sells drugs to make extra money... I beat people up for a living, I have an addiction to stealing, I'm a regular at AA meetings... And I turned out to be the best one, who has everyone's backs... And I thought you had mine..." He whimpered. He gave them one last glare. "... Don't call my number. Leave me alone. I'll see you at school," he spat. Without another word, he left the destroyed bar, slamming the door behind him. Sasha looked up from tending to Blake's wounds, guilt painted on her tanned face.

"... Vao has a point..."

"What?" Y/N turned to face her. Sasha nodded her head, gesturing towards the door. "Yeah. If it was any of us, Verde would have taken us to the hospital. Your mom can wait, Y/N. Our teammate is what's important!"