CHAPTER 54(Heart to Heart)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

---Tower of Babel, Noon...

Standing outside Yang's apartment, Tsubaki can be seen holding a small tray of food in her left hand as she gathers her thoughts. 'This really isn't my kinda thing,' she thinks to herself, taking a deep breath she opens the door and steps into the dim room.

Stepping into the apartment, she takes a look around. The first thing she notices is yesterday's food still sitting on the coffee table.

'Great, skipping meals again.'

As she steps over the scattered books and pages on the floor she slowly makes her way up the stairs to the bedroom area of the apartment. With only the balcony glass door providing light she quickly reaches for the switch and turns on the lights.

"Mmmmmm!" A clearly annoyed groan responds to the light.

Under his sheets Yang has hidden away, hiding from the world it would seem.

"You need to get out of bed, it's been two weeks," sigh. "At least eat, I brought you some food."

"I'm fine," A tired voice responds.

"I'm not leaving until you finish this food, I can't have you dying on us."

"Mmmmm!"

"Start eating," She says as she pulls the blanket away. Revealing Yang wearing only his shorts, bags under his bloodshot eyes, face unshaved, and hair unkempt.

"C'mon, just try to eat while I'm here at least." Tsubaki pleads.

As Yang wordlessly sits up, he drapes his feet over the edge of the bed before moving to sit on the floor, leaning back onto his bed. He slowly takes the tray and stares at it in his lap.

"Thank you," She says, moving to sit beside him on the floor.

An awkward minute passes as he simply stares at his food, not making any move to eat.

"We've already told you, what happened wasn't your fault. The chaos energy makes people primal. You just defended yourself, it's not like everyone didn't know the risk of entering anyway," her words barely above a whisper as she speaks to the boy.

"..."

"Being an adventurer, it's not just about fighting monsters as you think. It's a silent war between familias. Most of the time it's calm, but sometimes things happen that make people fight each other. It's not something people warn the rookies about, but, it happens. You can't keep beating yourself up for it."

As her hushed words reach Yang's ears, small, silent tears begin to fall.

"I... I remember." That was all he said.

"You, remember? Like... where you came from?" Tsubaki asks, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"Mhm, my home, family. I saw them die all over again, every time I go to sleep I relive it over and over. I saw how to fix it all, I saw my purpose." Yang says, his voice rising with every word, from a whisper to his regular tone.

"If you saw your purpose, why not focus on it? You've been in here for two weeks Yang, you've got something to fight for now."

"That's the thing, I... I have this drive. What I need is in the dungeon. Do you remember when you guys asked me, why I woke up and chose to risk my life? "

"Yeah,"

"I think, part of me knew. It knew I had to challenge the dungeon to fix everything. That part of me is what I'm so scared of. It makes me want to fight, it made me...." he doesn't finish his statement.

"It makes you what?"

"It, it made me, not feel that bad. I KILLED two people, and at the moment I felt awful, but two days later and I was fine. I'm scared Tsubaki. I want to clear the dungeon and get down there, but I'm scared of what I'll do to make that happen, and I'm scared that I won't feel bad when I do it."

Putting the food to his side, Yang hugs his knees and the tears now flow freely. Unsure how to react at first, Tsubaki takes a moment before draping her arm around the young adventurer and giving him a small hug.

"Never would have thought this adventure-hungry little naive kid would be so scared of losing his humanity, that he would shut himself away for two weeks, you're full of surprises."

His crying continues.

"If, if you're so scared, then give up..." she says, causing Yang to pause for a moment before she continues, "But if you can't give up, then do what a real adventurer would do, conqueror your goals. If it's the dungeon then you know we'll all support you, and if people get in your way, we'll help you then too. You aren't in this alone Yang, we're all here to help you. And that includes keeping you in check. With your gun-ho personality and all the firepower you've got, it's definitely gonna take all of us." She finishes with a small compliment.

"Heh, thanks Tsubaki. I don't think naive really describes me anymore by the way. They say experience makes you who you are right, and I've just got all mine back. You guys were right, I was too ignorant to see it, I definitely think they played me." Yang says as he raises his head.

"Ha, you finally noticed, looks like you've definitely got what it takes then."

"What?"

"Get up," She says, rising to her feet she pulls him up with her.

"Uh"

"Congratulations, you've been promoted to Dungeon Expedition Commander of the Hephaestus Familia, that means when I'm not in the dungeon, you're top dog. Thalie will take the lead until you get a bit better at teamwork but the promotion is already filed." She says with a wide grin on her face.

"Huh, didn't know that was a thing, I mean, thank you, captain," Yang says.

"Good, now that you're starting to feel a little better, how about you get cleaned up and get some fresh air. Your armor should be done in a few more days, the boss worked overtime, she thought seeing it would get your head back on straight. Don't disappoint her alright."

"I won't, some fresh air sounds good," Yang says while looking at the balcony doors.

"Yeah, I figured you would jump right back in, just try to avoid other familias for a while ok."

"Alright, thank you."

"I'm heading out then, I've gotta tell Hephaestus the good news." She says while walking to the door.

'Gods I'm so bad at shit like this I panicked and rushes it, fuck,' she thinks while walking away.

As Tsubaki leaves the room, small wisps of flame begin to dance on Yang's bare skin, the blue flames move around in an excited fashion as he places his hand forward, small arcs of purple lightning crackle around his hand as they emanate from his skin.

"New power, new memories, and some new ideas I never would have thought of before."

Flicking his finger, the metal spoon from his tray flies into his open hand, magnetically called by the lightning.

"Hm, could use some refinement," He says as he picks up the tray to eat his food.

Later than evening, Yang can be seen in his gear standing on the stone rail of his balcony, many floors above the streets of Orario. Taking a small step over the edge, Yang allows himself to fall a few feet before rocketing toward the dungeon entrance as a comet of blue flames.

As he flies into the large dungeon entrance, he takes a sudden dive, narrowly avoiding a dagger thrown directly at his face as he lands on his feet. Looking over to his assailant he sees none other than Thalie, wearing light padded armor, a full-body blue assassin's wear.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She asks him.

"Uh, the dungeon, why are you trying to kill me exactly?"

"Tsubaki told me you were coming here so I've been waiting for a bit, decided to see what my new teammate can do, especially since the awesome performance in the challenge. Nice work by the way."

"Uh..."

"Assassin remember, I'm just tagging along to see what you can do in here. Pretend I'm not even here" She says while stowing her dagger back into the sheath.

"Well, alright, just try to keep up," Yang says as he quickly drops down the first floor.

END CHAPTER---