Of Tracksuits and Ponchos
(Re:Zero/LISA: The Painful/Joyful)
Chapter 1: The One-Eyed Poncho-Girl
She ran.
Blood filled her vision. Gut red intestines crawling all over her body. Her neck - choking the air out of her. She felt them in her mouth, gorging themselves deeper. Feasting every inch of her innards. Rotten red spilling from every orifice. Her lungs. Her stomach. Her organs. They nested, and they grew, and they feasted.
She ran.
Her legs burned, buried into bags of raging charcoals. Feel them melting. Feel them blacken into crisps. Blood spilled from them - jagged stones, and rocks turning her legs into houses. Nesting, and gorging themselves a feast.
The blood red dessert made them known to her eyes. Corpses strewn about, uncared for. Ignored. Nobody cared about them. Molten needles went drip-drip-drip, burning her eyes, sinking deeper into her cheeks. Digging deeper into the tissues.
She ran.
She ran as fast as she could. As fast as she ever had. Faster, and faster. She didn't know how long she had ran. Had it been just minutes? Days? Months? She didn't know. She could look back. She couldn't. She didn't want to. Didn't dare to. She wanted to go away from here - away from anywhere.
She tripped.
It was just a piece of stone, yet it was steady. Unmoving, like the tip of an iceberg. She fell forward, turning into a tumble. Reflex became one with her body, and she curled into a ball. Skipping through rock, and stones. They dug into her body - more blood. She landed on the soles of her feet, ignoring the burning sensation it caused.
She stopped running.
Her body fell to the ground. An awkward, hunched position. Almost a prostate. Arms folded over to the surface, forehead planted on the coarse sandy ground - stinging her wounds open. She felt ill. She felt the intestines, tying her up. Why was she still sick? She shouldn't be. She had taken the vaccine, didn't she? She should be healthy, then why was she-
She threw herself to the aside. Vomit, and bile stained the ground. Acid stinging her eyes, burning her throat and nose - chunky bits on the sand. They looked like a bunch of dead bodies, she thought.
She blinked. A wave of relief, but it was gone as soon as it came. Bile rose from her stomach, and she gurgled, and hacked. So sick, and so weak. She couldn't be weak. Not now, not ever. What if they -
Oh wait, they're dead.
Something escaped from her lips. Not vomit. Not chunky bits of dried jerkies, or some others that she had eaten, and never remembered. A sound. A laugh. A giggle. When had she laughed like this? Giggled like this?
She didn't want to remember. She was free to, wasn't she? Yes, she was free now. What was she afraid of? Everyone's dead. She wasn't going to die. She could do whatever else she wanted - she was the strongest, nobody could mess with her. They were dead, anyway, so they couldn't mess with her even if she wasn't the strongest.
But she was.
And she was alive
Buddy threw herself to her side, away from her vomit spot. She could still taste them in her mouth. Something bitter, and something sour. Burning at the back of her throat. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably. Was it worth it, she wondered?
Did she even care?
She needed to take a rest. No. Wanted to take a rest. She didn't need to get scared of the others. They were dead. Killed. No longer a concern. She was the strongest, now.
So Buddy Armstrong rested.
- 0 -
The first time Subaru saw her, it was at the Village.
Ram was inside the store, taking care of business to buy supplies for the kitchen. Considering that there was nothing he could do to help, he had opted to wait outside. The red - pink? - haired maid was all too happy to let him. So here he was, playing. With kids. Though being used as a toy would perhaps be more accurate.
"Oi, oi, oi! Careful there," he exclaimed, spinning his arms around. "You could break my arms if you keep this up!"
"Then you shouldn't wave them around, big bro!" the kid holding onto his left arm, Cain laughed.
Locked around his right arm, Dine nodded with a grin. "Yeah, yeah! It'd be your own fault if they snapped, big bro!"
Subaru's eyebrows twitched. "The heck's kind of logic, is that?" he protested.
"The good kind, obviously," the boy returned smugly.
"Hey, my turn, my turn!" Lucas reached up. And then jumped suddenly over his back. "Come on, big bro!"
"Hrgk." Subaru choked at the gangly arms around his neck. His balance disrupted, turning into an awkward dance as he tried to gain his balance back. "Tap out, tap out!"
"Whoa!" the boy on his shouted loudly. The pressure left his neck, followed by a thump behind him. "You okay, bro?"
"Ahah," he chuckled. The kids on both his arms dropped as well, and he rubbed his neck. "I'm alright, I'm alright," then he swiftly turned around. Lucas' concerned expression changed suddenly into a nervous chuckle. "But don't do that again, you little…" Subaru blinked, trailing off. His eyes stared at someone off the distance, leaning against the fence of the village's treeline.
She was a little girl, most likely around the age of these kids. Eleven, or twelve? Subaru blinked again. A piece of brown cloth almost covered her all of her body - a poncho, he recalled from one of those cowboy movies. Long messy black hair, with one side tied into a topknot of some sort. But the most striking was her blue eyes, or rather, eye. A bandage was strapped over her left eye, the tell-tale of a grotesque wound peeking slightly to her nose. She was staring up at the sky.
"... who's that?" Subaru couldn't help but ask.
"Huh?" Lucas blinked, dropped his hand, and turned around to follow his stare. The others did the same. "Oh."
Subaru glanced down to him. "You know her?"
The boy shook his head. "Not really," he shrugged. "She's…"
"Scary," Subaru looked to the girl. Petra. The other kids nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we tried to talk with her, but she just…" Cain shuddered. "Stared."
"And she's new here, too," Mild provided, the round boy adding in for the first time.
"Yeah, she's been here after a week ago," Petra nodded, a frown tugging her lips down. The group quietened. "Mister Conrad found her collapsed at the edge of the village. I heard it was bad," she whispered.
"What are you telling them, Barusu? Nothing corrupting, hopefully,"
Subaru jumped, turning back in slight surprise. Ram stared at him with that judgemental look people usually reserve for shady criminals. "Don't look at me like that," he held his hands out. "I didn't tell them anything bad, right kids?" he turned to them.
Lucas grinned cheekily, tapping his chin. "Well…"
A sigh escaped Ram's lips as she shook her head. "How truly despicable of you, Barusu. One of you is enough, and now you're trying to multiply?" she sighed again, somehow managing to look even more aggrieved.
Subaru didn't pout, but it was a close thing. "I'm telling you… huh?" he looked down. A girl with long blue hair smiled at him. He hadn't seen her before… though then again, this was his first time visiting the village. He straightened himself. "What can
Instead of answering, she shoved a brown puppy up at him. Black eyes blinking at him, head tilting curiously, ears flopping along it.
"Cute!" Petra exclaimed giddily.
Subaru blinked, and then chuckled. His hand moved to the puppy. "Aww. Who's a good dog, you are, you are - ow!" the dog promptly bit him. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! It's bleeding, you stupid dog!"
"Well, if that's not a sign of your despicability, then I wouldn't not know what, Barusu," Ram said, voice taking a slight tinge of amusement.
The kids laughed at that, as he flailed his hand about. Blood seeping out. His eyes glanced to the fence.
The poncho-girl wasn't there anymore.
- 1 -
The second time she saw the poncho-girl, it was also the 'second' visit to the village after 'last night's' mysterious death.
Rem was inside the store to purchase the supplies instead of Ram. Another sign that it was truly impossible to recreate everything to a tee. Part of him already knew that - after all, Ram didn't attempt to teach him this world's language in the last loop, but she did in this one, and it made sense. Kinda.
Still didn't mean he didn't a feel cheated by it. No point in complaining, Subaru thought to himself. Nodding with a smile. He's going to find out what caused his death tonight, and then he's going to solve it. After all, he still needed to have a date with Emilia-tan first!
"Yes!"
"Ehh, what's with that look, bro?" Lucas commented with a grin. "You look kinda happy there,"
Subaru gave the boy hanging on his left arm a wide grin. If he could, he would've given him a thumbs-up, alas his other arm was quite occupied by Mild. Thank goodness for his work-out! Else, his arm would have snapped off by now! "Naturally," he answered confidently. He turned around, causing both kids to whoop in excitement. "I have decided that I am going to ask a girl I really love a date!"
"A date, huh?" Cain wondered aloud, tilting his head from where he latched on Subaru's back. Incidentally, his eyes met Dine. The stare was fiercer than an ordinary stare. There was a story, he was sure.
"Uwaah," Petra giggled, clapping her hands excitedly. "That sounds romantic, Mister Subaru,"
Subaru nodded wistfully, quelling the urge to cross his arms. A confident grin on his face. "Of course. But first, I need to…" he trailed, eyes sliding to the girl leaning over the same fence.
Her eye was on him. Blank, almost emotionless. It made him shudder, and she looked away. A girl that age shouldn't be looking like that.
"Huh? What's wrong, bro…" Lucas trailed off. "Oh."
Subaru hummed. "What's up with her, Lucas?"
The boy dropped from Subaru's arm, before shrugging his shoulders. "Don't really know, to be honest, but she's new,"
"Yup," Cain chimed, hopping away from his back. "Mister Kramell found her unconscious at the edge of the forest a week ago,"
Kramell. He wondered if he was just looking too deep into things, or if there's something related to the change.
"Uh-huh," Mild stepped down, nodding his head hurriedly. "I heard from mom that it was pretty bad. Mabeasts, I heard Nurse Marian said it,"
Subaru blinked, before giving the kids a confused look. "Mabeasts?"
"Uh-huh," the round kid nodded. "I heard from dad that she was covered in scars,"
"That bad, huh?" the teenager tilted his head. Her blue eye came to her mind. No little girl should have that look. "Have you guys asked her to play together?"
"We've tried, but…" Petra trailed off. "She didn't want to," she said quietly.
Lucas nodded. "She's kinda scary, even to me,"
"Heh," Subaru couldn't disagree with that. There's something about that eye that made him shiver. "Still, couldn't help but try again, right? I mean, she's probably nervous and all,"
"I suppose…" the boy said, hesitance clear in his voice.
A thought occurred to him, and Subaru couldn't hide the strained smile. "Do you guys even know her name?"
"We do!" Cain exclaimed, throwing his fist up to the air. "Her name is… is… urm," the hand lowered down, face turning sheepish. "Bubby?"
Subaru nearly lost his balance. Who the heck is she? Puck in disguise?
"Achaa!" Petra shook her head in exasperation. "That's not her name, Cain. It's Buddy! Bud-die!"
"Well," Cain looked away, pouting. A hint of red on his cheeks. "It's close enough,"
"Subaru," a voice came from behind. He turned back to see Rem - two brown paper bags of supplies in hands. "I believe it is time to return,"
"Huh? Oh sure," Subaru nodded. He turned to the kids. "Sorry kids, got to go back,"
There was a chorus of disappointed, "Aww,"
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll be back here tomorrow for the exercise, okay?" Then he felt a tug on his sleeve. He blinked, looking down on a blue-haired girl, an innocent smile on her face, and a not-so-innocent puppy on her hands, offered up to him.
Well, maybe the puppy wouldn't bite him now?
It totally did.
Damn.
- 2 -
The third time he saw Buddy, the poncho-wearing girl, it was also the first time he met her.
Subaru stopped, and huffed, swiping the sweat from his forehead. His hand lingered there for a moment, a grimace entered his face. Despite it still being late morning, he could feel goosebumps rising over all over his skin, the beginning of a cold sweat. Though the pain - the phantom pain was gone, the memories were deeply engraved into his mind.
It was a dark creeping sensation. A gripping sensation in his heart that filled him with doubt, and sickly feeling that made him want to lurch, and throw his breakfast out. Twitches, and pauses in his movement. Hesitance. He gritted his teeth, and he forced his hand down, before looking up to the forest-path leading up to his destination for today. The cliff. It would be perfect spot to watch the Mansion. Far, and hidden enough not to be seen, but close enough for him to perhaps see whoever killed him that night.
Curse, and Chains. Someone dangerous. Someone like the Bowel Hunter, perhaps. But Emilia is going to be safe, if that's the case. He had asked Puck - not that he needed to.
Subaru shook his head. I can do this, he told himself. Figure out who killed him, and hopefully, how to stop them.
A shiver went up his spine, and he shook his head. "Calm down," he muttered. "Don't be a coward, alright?"
He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders. His rucksack of a backpack rustled at the movement, and Subaru walked up the hill. "Hiking, huh," he mused. "There's always a first to everything, I suppose," Ah. Did Beatrice's speech-tick infected him, somehow? "Heh," he chuckled, gripping tight at the straps of his backpack as the hike turned into a full-on run.
"Stop there, and don't move,"
Subaru stumbled, his body lurching forward as surprise took over his body, and forced him to stop. He felt his blood cooling. Slowly, almost fearfully, the image of last night serving as a reminder - he looked up. And then blinked.
"Buddy?"
The girl narrowed her eye. Cold, and vicious eye. Something caught in his throat - she reminded him of the Bowel Hunter. Only the Bowel Hunter had that twistedness, but this one had none of that. Just pure coldness, and a simmering rage somewhere beneath. One who wouldn't bat an eye killing him. Something nagged at the back of his head. Fear, and doubt.
Is she the killer?
"How do you know my name?" the girl, and possible killer, bit out. There was something in her hand, Subaru noted. A dagger of some sort. "Answer my question, or else,"
"I," Subaru gulped. Words couldn't come out. He was going to die, he was sure of it. She was going to kill him. She was going to cut him into pieces, and - "T-the kids from the Village told me," he finally answered.
Buddy stared at him. Her brown poncho swaying in the wind. "And why are you here?"
I want to figure out who killed me. He didn't know the answer, or rather, he didn't know how to word his answer. He was going to die, so it's obvious that he needs to prolong things out. Who knew? Maybe, just maybe, he'd get lucky this time. He forced himself to breathe, giving the girl a sickly smile as he tilted his head to the side - toward the Mansion. "I heard someone was going to attack the Mansion, so I wanted to keep watch over here,"
If anything, the answer made her look more doubtful. Her hand clenched at the handle of her knife. "I don't believe you, and I would rather kill you," Subaru took an instinctive backstep. Ready to dash, and run, and hope that he was faster than the girl. Fat chance. "But I won't." Subaru blinked. Buddy lowered the knife - not enough to leave her defenseless, but enough to show what it meant. Was he wrong? Did he misjudge her. Gods, he hoped he did.
"But," he went tense at the growl in her voice - an instinctive reaction. A feral quality in it. That simmering rage as she narrowed her eye at him. "Do anything to me, and I will make you regret it,"
Subaru's neck almost moved on its own. Up, and down. He swallowed. Part of him wondered about her wording. To me. He didn't want to imagine it. "Yeah, I'll, uh, keep my hands to myself,"
The girl stared for a moment, before nodding. She didn't turn away from him, merely stepping back until her back hit the cliff's wall. She slid down to the ground, and sat. An eye always at him.
Subaru sagged. Not quite in relief, but something close to it. He kept an eye on the girl as he approached. She tensed. His hands immediately rose in placation. "Wait, wait, wait. I just want to sit… here," he leaned back against the wall, a careful distance away from the girl.
There was silence. Long, and awkward. Though from the way the girl look, that was probably on him. It stretched, and stretched. The day winding down. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't. Too much adrenaline now in his blood. Making him twitch, and shake.
There was a rumbling noise. Subaru tensed, expecting something. Then he recognized the rumbling noise, and blinked. Carefully, he turned to Buddy.
She wasn't looking at him. Rather, at the sky. Her knees pulled to her chest into a hug.
Subaru opened his mouth. It felt dry, so he smacked them together. "Uh, are you hungry?"
The girl's head snapped at him so fast he almost feared the worst. She only looked at him for a moment, before looking away. "No."
The teenager grimaced. Part of him wanted to leave it, but… "Geez, aren't you stubborn?" he reached into his backpack. Saw her tense, only to blink in confusion at the first thing he took out. He looked at it for a moment - a loaf of bread. Huh. Well, anyway. "Here, take it, and eat. You're still growing, aren't you?"
Her eyes were fixed on the loaf of bread. For the first time, he could see something else other than simmering anger, and cold apathy from her. Something much more childlike. Almost hesitantly, she looked up at him. "Why? No. What do you want?"
"What do I want?" he asked back, furrowing his brows at the question. Part of him coudn't help but see the implication behind her question. "Isn't it obvious? You're hungry, and you're a child-"
"Don't treat me like a child," she snapped immediately.
His hands had moved instinctively, protecting his face at the worst possible scenario. He was still alive, and there was wound inflicted on him. He opened his eyelids slowly, and peeked. Buddy was glowering at him, but she wasn't moving to attack him. Certainly not the same attacker, he thought. "I won't, then," he said, unsure if he actually meant that or not. "But you're still hungry, and I'm not asking anything from you. Besides, I still have more in my back. I promise, honest,"
"Promises don't mean anything when you're willing to break them," Buddy muttered. A moment passed. "Throw it to me," she said after a moment.
Subaru smiled, tossing the bread. She caught it with the precision of a professional baseball Catcher. Her stomach rumbled. There was a moment of silence as she stared at the bread. "Thanks," she muttered. Then she paused, looking at the bread. As if unsure what to do. Hesitantly, she pulled at it, procuring a pinch of bread. She popped it into her mouth. Chewed. Her eye widened.
For a moment, Subaru tensed back, only to make a choking noise at the back of her neck as the girl ravaged the poor loaf of bread. It was almost fascinating, as it was horrifying.
Rest in Peace, Mister Bread. May your name be remembered forever in history.
"Heh, you really are hungry," he chuckled. He ignored the glare he got from that.
Still, Subaru sagged back. A tension was gone. Not gone gone, but certainly not as thick, and cloying as it was before. He closed his eyes with a sigh. A rest sounded nice, for once.
- 3 -
Chains, clinking against one another. Steel clanged against steel. Something heavy was slammed down onto the ground. It shook the ground, a tremor.
Subaru woke up with a start. Heart on his throat, and beating so fast that he wasn't going to be surprised if he suddenly died from a heart attack. "What's -" he looked up, and his voice died.
A small back was in front of him. Brown poncho still visible under the moon's silvery gaze. Messy black hair swaying along it with the air. The head of a flail, gouged deep into the ground - long chains connecting it. Something splattered on to the ground - his eyes reflexively snapped to it. Wet, and glistening red under the light.
Blood.
"Buddy!" he shouted, jumping up to his feet. His vision blurred for a moment, making him stumble forward. "Are you al-" his vision reaffirmed himself, and he could only watch in horror at her mangled right arm. Glistening red liquid pouring out, and he could even see bones poking out. "You arm!"
She made a growling noise, teeth gritting. Then she took a breath. "I'm fine. Step back - they're trying to kill you,"
"Me?" his voice trembled. Not Emilia, or anyone else. Just him. He shook his head. "Nevermind that, you're not fine. Your arm is -"
The chain clinked. Reeling. A memory of his previous death resurfaced, and he stepped back instinctively. His mind screamed at him - to get the hell out. The other part of him screamed back - Buddy's mangled arm in his mind.
"I said I'm fucking fine," she said. A guttural quality at the back of her throat - something that sounded wrong in someone so small, and young. "But unless you can fight, then get the hell back. I'll deal with this myself,"
Something pushed him, making him stumble back. It was her elbow, splotches of her blood staining his track-suit. Subaru choked. Her blue eye glimmered under the moonlight - that simmering rage. Almost calm, in a way. "Show yourself, whoever you are!" she shouted back.
The flail-head stopped moving. A sudden clack on the ground as the chain links rattled against one another. Subaru snapped back from his numbed daze with a flinch. Part of him couldn't help but note the deliberate slowness in how it had moved. A strange considering pause at the challenge. Unless you can fight. His mind caught up to that, and his eyes leaped to his bag. The kitchen knife. Ram was going to kill him if she knew.
His backpack slid from his back, creating a muted whumpf as it hit the ground. His jacket slipped off - a plan butchered from his previous, and now-premature plan forming in the back of his head as he crouched over the bag.
He rummaged inside. Feeling, and searching through all sort of items, and miscellaneous. Food, and utensils. Cleaning products, coins, and there - it glimmered somewhat under the moonlight, the blade reflecting its light back to him. He recalled the cutting incidents from previous times. Yeah, she's going to kill me, he thought.
"I could fight," he finally said, rising up to his legs. Buddy glanced over him, caught the knife on his right hand, and the jacket on his left, and then nodded.
"Just don't get in the way,"
"Heh," there was a sort of incongruity that made him chuckle a bit. A girl with the voice of a little girl telling him, an eighteen years old teenager, not to get in the way. Worst bit was that he couldn't do anything but follow. He smiled a bit at the glare shot at him. "I'll try,"
The girl turned back to the treeline of the forest, and as if on cue, an answer came from the attacker.
"Very well,"
Subaru froze. His breath hitched, as his eyes widened. That voice - soft, feminine, and cold. He recognized it, and how could he not? It was the same voice he had been hearing for days with. The same voice he had grown to like; to trust. "N-no…" he choked.
The chains rattled, and clinked. Memory from 'that night' rushing back into his mind. Someone was moving within the treeline - a mere silhouette by the moon's gaze. Approaching, until…
He didn't want to see, yet he couldn't close his eyes. He didn't want to believe, yet there she was. "Rem." he croaked. Short blue hair, and equally blue eyes gazing coldly towards him. The handle of the flail in her hands.
An illness came over him. Something black, and miserable, and awful. Gripping at his heart, and playing it like a child would with soft clay. Squishing, and crushing. Subaru's vision blurred, a swimming dizziness in his head. He was hyperventilating - or rather, he couldn't breathe, Subaru realized. A sudden tightening in his throat.
Buddy stopped, looking momentarily surprised, before frowning. "You're one of the maids," she deducted easily.
Her voice snapped Subaru back. Vision recovering as he finally breathed.
Rem turned her head away from him and to Buddy. Her eyes lingered on her mangled, and bleeding arm. Something entered her eyes, before she looked up to Buddy's face. "... Correct. I do not sense anything from you… why did you protect him?"
Buddy calmly returned her look. There was a glint on her left arm - a dagger. "Because I want to, and because you attacked us. So, why do you want to kill him?"
"He's dangerous," Rem answered immediately. Her fists were clenched. "Someone sent to spy over the Mansion. He needs to die."
Subaru opened his mouth in shock. What was she saying? He wasn't - he didn't - it was just a great . Yes. That's it, right? Right? "Eheh. W-what are you talking about, R-Rem. I-I'm not a-"
"Lies." Rem cut him off with scornful eyes. It felt as though he had been punched in the guts. She turned back to Buddy. "Please, I do not want to hurt you -"
A snort interrupted her. "Too late, I would think," Buddy tilted her head to her arm.
"I did not expect you to…" Rem shook her head, a slight grimace on her face. Almost unnoticeable as it was quickly replaced by her emotionless demeanor. "Please. I can heal you, and I do not want to harm you, so please,"
Buddy gazed at Rem. Her blue eye met Rem's. Some part of Subaru wanted to say something. Anything. But the knot in his throat remained. It hurt - the knowledge that his murderer was Rem all along. The same girl he had grown to trust, and like. Spent days, and hours with. Was all of those conversations, all those time were fake?
The little girl he had only known for the span of half-a-day looked back at him. Cold blue eye meeting his terrified brown eyes. Her face was pale, part of him noted. Then she closed her eye, and turned back to Rem. "Over my dead body," she answered simply.
There was a moment of silence.
A little girl was going to get herself killed because of him. Some part of him wanted to curl down, and cry, and laugh. Another wanted to scream at her - scream at himself for being a damned coward.
He should just die.
A moment of clarity came over his mind. Yes, he should just die. It wasn't like it would be over for him, wouldn't it? His neck, feeling heavier than it should, turned to the side. There, the cliff. He could just jump - heck, he could just roll over, and everything would end. He'd be back on that bed, under that ceiling, and everything's going to return to normal, and -
"Don't move," someone commanded him. Subaru stopped on reflex, following the noise with a croak. His eyes met Rem's. There was none of the friendliness he had been seeing past over the few days - simply pure hatred. Vile blackness that made him want to die. "You are truly the most despicable,"
"H-huh?" Subaru choked - the smile froze on his face. "W-what-"
Clang. Steel clashed against steel. Subaru twitched on reflex, head snapping. Buddy was gone from her spot, and now she stood in front of Rem. Dagger bared in a way that would've pierced the blue-haired maid's back if not for the chains locking it. Buddy shook, gritting her teeth. Rem regarded her with an almost imperceptible grimace.
"Don't look away," Buddy intoned, before she promptly ducked, and rushed into Rem's guard. A noise of surprise escaped the maid's lips as she stepped back, trying to make up distance. She couldn't. With a grunt, Rem brought down her fist - the one holding the morningstar's handle - and swiped it across the incoming tiny girl -
It missed. Subaru could only watch in shock, the shout of warning died in the back of his throat, as Buddy hopped. A graceful leap into Rem's defense, and through the slips of her arms, pivoting so quick until she was behind Rem. Time seemed to slow. Under the moonlight, Subaru could see Buddy's emotionless eye. The point of the dagger glinted under the silvery gaze as it went down for the kill-
"Rem!" Subaru screamed.
Rem dropped to the ground, the dagger missing the back of her neck by a breadth away, before she rolled away. Her legs shot out, pushing her up to her feet. Legs wide in a stance, and eyes narrowed at her opponent, though Subaru felt that it was aimed at him instead.
Landing on the ground, Buddy frowned towards him. "... Really?" her face was pale under the moon. Her body swayed in an almost imperceptible way, yet her eye was as sharp as ever.
Subaru winced. Worry, and guilt brewing in his heart. She had lost a lot of blood, hadn't she? "Please don't kill her," his voice was barely a whisper, but in the silent cliff, it was like the shot of a pistol.
The maid suddenly growled, and then she whirled towards him. The chain clinked, reeling, and Rem roared. "No!" One moment, the morningstar was lodged on the ground, the next it was heading towards him. "Just die!"
Subaru tried to move, but he couldn't. His muscles locked, and seized. The morningstar grew larger, and larger. He was going to die - he didn't want to die, but it was alright, right? He'll just wake up under the familiar ceiling, and…
Steel clanged against steel. The spiked ball suddenly veered off its path, whizzing centimeters past his head, and gouged itself deep into the cliff wall behind him. Something clattered to the ground before him. A dagger; Buddy's dagger.
Why am I still alive? Subaru stared, shoulders shaking, and body trembling as he watched. He felt a sting on the side of his head - blood, he realized, as his hand felt around it. Why?
Silence descended. Rem gritted her teeth as she turned to Buddy. Eyes disbelieving - knuckles turning white as she gripped tightly around the morningstar's handle. "... Why?"
"He reminded me of someone," Buddy answered simply. She was swaying more, breathing heavily. He wanted to scream at her to stop. He wanted to do it - but he couldn't. Yet again, fear clotted his throat.
Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel the fury radiating from Rem. Not at the girl. At him. It made him sick. "Why? Don't you see that he's controlling you?! Playing you?! He's evil-"
"Rem, stop,"
Subaru froze, and so did Rem. Buddy tilted her head over her shoulders, swaying. Sweat had formed a sheen over her face. Ram stood at the edge of the treeline. Red hair swaying with the wind, red eyes threatening the calm on her face.
Rem's eyes widened in shock. "Sister-!"
"Stop. We will talk later, Rem,"
Rem stopped. Slowly, Ram turned to look at Subaru. There was something in her eyes that he couldn't read - and then she turned to Buddy. Eyes turning concerned. "We should return to the Mansion, and try to solve this misunderstanding -"
Buddy released a breath. And then her body tilted to the left, not unlike that of metronome, only she didn't sway back to the right. Ram let out a noise at the back of her throat as she reached forward. Too late. With a thud, Buddy fell to the ground. Eye closed.
A scream tore through Subaru's throat. "Buddy!"
- 4 -
"How is she?" Subaru asked in worry.
He was back in the Mansion again. In the Library, to be exact. There was something comfortable about the Mansion. Something safe. Something not unlike an anchor - the knowledge that Emilia was here. True, he knew it wasn't safe; his deaths had testified of that, but the sensations still lasted.
Even with the knowledge that Rem had been the one who killed him.
Subaru banished the thought away, and turned to the body on the table. Buddy lay there - her face pale, but breathing softly. As though she was asleep, and for the first time, the girl looked like… like someone in her age should. That certain innocence that had previously been crushed from whatever it was the girl had suffered. Her eye, Subaru knew, had something to do with that.
He clenched his fist, and looked away, turning expectantly to the Mansion Library's sole inhabitant.
Beatrice stepped back from the table, drill hair swaying with her feet. "Her arm is fine, I suppose. Stable, and healed." The blonde librarian gestured at the unblemished arm. He was reminded of his gutted stomach. After a moment, she shook her head with a frown. "However, it's unlikely she will ever wake up anytime soon, if ever,"
Subaru took a step back in shock. Anger quickly took over. "What? Why?! Aren't you supposed to be a good healer, or something? You told me you were the one who healed me, so why can't you do the same with her?!" he shouted, teeth gritting.
Beatrice watched him impassively. "Is that all?" when Subaru didn't answer, she huffed. "She's cursed."
The words died on his throat. He recalled the conversation he had a couple days ago. How he had died in the first day. The Curse. Only, he was still alive now, so he wasn't cursed, but Buddy… "But couldn't you heal that too?" he tried.
Beatrice sighed, looking over Buddy. "Normally, I could, yes." she agreed. "However..." she trailed off, before undid Buddy's worn poncho, crinkling at the smell. Subaru had to agree - it wasn't the nicest smelling article. Beneath that was a pink shirt, but what caught his eyes was the red blotch staining it.
Blood. Subaru swallowed. "No…"
Beatrice quirked her lips to a frown. "As I thought," without delay, the girl pulled up the pink shirt.
Scars, and wounds, more than a child should have. Bite marks. Scratches that gouged deep into the flash. Roll of bloodied bandages. She recalled Petra's word: I heard it was bad. He had never thought it would be this bad.
Subaru stared numbly. She had fought in that condition.
"Humans can be disgusting, at times," Beatrice said, shaking her head, though Subaru knew the words were intended not to her, or him. "Regardless, what was responsible for the curse was not any Shaman, but rather, a demon beast," at that, the girl traced a wound, one that looked like it was from a bite mark, before moving to a claw mark. There were several more of them on Buddy's body. "An Ulgarm. Or Ulgarms, as the case may be. They breed like rabbits in the forest," she explained.
Subaru frowned. "Does that make any difference?"
"Not really, I suppose," Beatrice replied. "But the amount of them does. If it's just a single curse put on her, then it would be easy to undo it - " the girl began to gesture with her hands. "It would be like pulling an easy knot, but when you have several of them-" two hands clasped together, turning into one ball of fist. Stuck.
Understanding dawned on Subaru's mind. "It'd become a dead knot,"
"Something like that, I suppose," Beatrice nodded. Then she sighed. "To be honest, it is impressive that the girl-"
"Buddy," Subaru interrupted. She was more than just the girl.
The librarian frowned at the interruption, but she shook her head. "Buddy, then. It's impressive that she's managed to stay alive even until now. Normal people would have died, but I suppose her Divine Protection has something to do with that."
"Divine Protection?" Subaru shook his head - something to ask later. "Nevermind." he gritted his teeth, a desperate look in his eyes. "Couldn't we try to heal her? Is there no other way? There should be, right?"
Beatrice pursed her lips with a hum. "Normally, I would say no. Once a curse is activated, it is activated. The victim will suffer whatever the curse is for, and in this case, thusly die. It would've been a different matter if the curse wasn't activated." She pauses. "However, since the girl is still alive, if barely, then another way to undo the curse would be by rendering the casters to be no more, I suppose,"
"Killing them?" Subaru finished the thought. For a moment, his mind pounced on the Demon Beasts. The fantasy monsters of this world. Ulgarms - could they also be responsible to what happened to him somehow? Not Rem. Part of him felt elated at that, another simply felt pathetic. "I heard she came from the forest a week ago,"
"A week ago?" Beatrice's eyes widened slightly. She gave the girl a considering look. "How surprising, I suppose, the fact that she's still somehow alive. Though it appears that the wound, and exertion have finally taken its toll, I suppose,"
The guilt churned in his stomach. That was his fault, wasn't it? "Is it that bad?"
Beatrice hummed. "It is a Weakening curse. The Ulgarm used it upon their victim by tagging them, and suck their Mana away once they're about to eat. As I have said before, once the Curse is activated…"
"Then it's activated." He finished. A horrified realization came to him. "She's been suffering for a week?" He recalled the first time he had died from the curse. Then last time - that was the Curse, wasn't it, that made him sick? Buddy had suffered it for a week.
"Indeed, I suppose."
Subaru stood there for the longest moment, staring at the girl's sleeping face. His fists clenched, teeth gritting. Just like with Emilia, he was now indebted to another girl. One that is possibly half-a-decade younger than him. It was only logical that he would return the debt -
"Where are you going?" Beatrice asked suddenly.
His hand was on the door's knob. "I'm going to undo the curse,"
"You will die." The girl noted, as though saying that the sky was blue. "And it's still dark. I suggest you to rest, I suppose,"
Subaru's hand trembled. Teeth gritting. He didn't want to die, no. He never wanted to ever die to begin with. He didn't even know what these Ulgarms would look like! Though by the scars, he guessed it was something mammal. But he couldn't just stay here. Just sleep until tomorrow as though nothing had happened.
It was likely that he was going to die anyway.
But a girl that young shouldn't suffer so much.
Rem's face remained seared into his mind, the scorn in her eyes. His heart ached at the reminder. He took a shuddering breath. He couldn't even sleep here, even if he wanted to. "No," he answered. "I need to do it now." He waited for a moment for Beatrice to say something.
She didn't.
Subaru left.