Anastasia and I talked for a short while longer, but he eventually got up, saying that she should probably let me get some sleep. Our goodbye's seemed pleasant enough, and most importantly not awkward, and I hope that she thought so too. Hopefully, she couldn't see how tightly I was gripping the side of my pants under the blankets as she left, the news she had given me having terrified me beyond belief. The moment she left I dove to the bedside table and chugged down the water left in the glass. After having chugged the entire glass, I slammed it down and flopped onto my back, breathing heavily.

"I… am going to die. They are going to kill me."

Anastasia told me that I was going to train under Ricardo of all people. Not to mention, apparently, Julius was going to be stopping by to "help" occasionally. She seemed happy about the arrangement and I just couldn't bring myself to disappoint her, so I didn't say a word in complaint. Well, "I had made my bed, now I was going to have to sleep in it" as the saying goes. I mean seriously though, as scary as Ricardo was, he seemed nice to people he got along with so maybe it won't be so bad. With a more determined outlook on my training, I fell asleep.

/

"Come on, kid! Dodge!"

"I'm trying, you sadistic a-AH!"

I let out a rather un-manly scream as another brick flew past my head. I had just barely managed to dive to the side and I quickly rushed up and continued running around the cleared circle. I was dressed in some simple white pants and a grey tunic which were supposed to "Help us see if you're bleeding, crying, or relieving yourself." As Ricardo had put it.

Speaking of the psychotic captain, I looked over to the center of the circle where Ricardo stood, hefting a heavy stone about the size of my head. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of leather pants with his giant sword laying against a wall nearby. He was surrounded by varied objects nearby, ranging from a pillow to a large iron discus, which he was using as projectiles to add difficulty to my "laps". As I jumped over another rock thrown my way, I remembered how I got into this situation.

/

Blankness. A peaceful existence where I wasn't bothered by a care in the world. A dreamless existence, no disturbances or stressors in any way shape or for-

"GOOD MORNING!"

"AHH!"

The sudden greeting scared me so much that I shotstraight up in bed, a little line of drool hanging out of my mouth. I was stunned for a few seconds but I quickly recognized a loud and booming sound coming from nearby.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! What are you doing, kid? Aren't you up yet?"

The sudden noise next to my ear left my head swimming and I couldn't even see straight but that bellowing laugh and raucous voice was unmistakable.

"You're Ricardo, aren't you?"

"Yep! But wait, aren't you new here? How do you know about me?"

Crap! I let my foreknowledge slip without thinking. I needed to cover for this fast. Think Conor think! What's a good excuse?

"Uh… Anastasia told me about you!"

He seemed to think for a moment before shrugging his gigantic shoulders and chuckling.

"I guess she would do that, wouldn't she? You guys do seem pretty close, so that makes sense."

"You think we seem close?! Wait, like how close? You don't think we're dat-AHHH"

I couldn't help but let out a scream as my arm, which was already bruised and battered by Mimi yesterday, nearly got ripped out of its socket by Ricardo lifting me up by my wrist and running out the door, with me in tow.

He ran down the hallway, laughing and reciting some kind of sea shanty in a language I didn't recognize, as I was pulled along behind him on the floor. My bruised body flared up in pain and my ribs and back in particular became the center of a lot of the pain as they were the parts of me which bounced on the ground the most.

I had no idea where we were going but when I was thrown from his grasp and landed roughly on my side a few meters away from him onto some soft dirt, I figured we were at our destination.

"Well, kid. This is the place! The great Iron fang training fields!... Though I guess you already came here yesterday, didn't ya?"

I could only groan in response as my entire body screamed out in pain.

"First Mimi, now this! I'm not going to live long enough for me to improve at all!"

As I struggled to remain conscious, I heard Ricardo come up behind me and place his head behind mine. I could feel his foul breath cloud the air around me and I tasted the distinct scent of raw meat on the air. I couldn't stop myself from instinctively crawling away from the smell, something about it triggering a primeval instinct in me which told me to "Get Away", allowing me to move when I really shouldn't.

As I struggled to sit up against a nearby tree, I could hear Ricardo laughing as he watched me struggle.

"You really did get the crap beat out of you yesterday, huh? Guess I can go easy on you for one day."

"Oh, thank God! Maybe he'll just stick to some light calisthenics. Yeah!"

"So, let's just stick to about 40 laps under light fire, all right? I won't even throw any spears, how's that sound?"

"…What?"

/

He had then proceeded to explain what these "laps" were, with me dying on the inside with each sentence, and after he was done he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me to the circular field. I wasn't even given a minute of rest before the rocks started flying.

I had run pretty slowly at first, more of a jog really, but once he started throwing things I picked up the pace a lot, despite the intense pain that erupted in my lungs and chest. I would have kept jogging in any other situation, but rocks being thrown at your face tends to give you quite the adrenaline rush and was a great source of inspiration.

"God, You're slow! What are you, my grandma?!"

"Given how strong you are, that's a bloody complement!"

Another thing that had developed was a unique from of banter that consisted of him insulting me and me, not refuting what he insulted about me, but instead showing how his insult was stupid and sometimes even insulting him. Essentially, he was insulting me and I was being salty, sassy, and sarcastic.

As I rounded my 27th lap, I noticed a number of people watching us. They were still mostly demi-humans and were generally standing a good way away and looked at me with nothing but raw pity in their eyes. Judging by their expressions, they are probably subject to similar ordeals at times.

I guess I'm not alone in this fight, huh?"

As I finished that thought, a brick flew out of Ricardo's hand and smashed into my hand. I could feel a number of sickening cracks before the pain ripped into my mind, blocking all other thoughts out. I let out a shout as I fell to the ground, cradling my hand. I could barely see it through the painful haze in my vision, but what I saw was not pleasant.

The brick had not hit my hand, but instead had actually smashed into wrist and lower arm. I could see blood pouring out of where the brick had shattered my wrist femur and some mangled pieces of bone jutted out at odd angles. My hand was hanging limp and I could see red splotches appearing where it had broken bones in my hand as well.

I could feel myself hyperventilating and barely even noticed some people running over until Ricardo knelt down by me, a look of actual worry quite clear on his face. He didn't seem to be panicking but he genuinely seemed shocked by what had happened.

"Wasn't he the one who threw it?"

I could barely even think due to the pain and I could feel myself panicking more and more as blood continued to come out of the wounds. I did my best to stop myself from crying or screaming, but I couldn't hold in some of the tears that rolled down my face, nor the constant groan that I let out as I struggled to remain conscience.

I could hear muffled voices through the pain and could have sworn I saw a certain knight come running in, but it turned out to only be a regular person, a young man, with a green and white cloak on. He was carrying a large box and quickly rushed over to my side and opened the box. He appeared to be a medic as he pulled out a number of tools from the box; things such as bandages, a few vials, stitches, and some needle and thread.

I was offered a rag to bite down on and I did so quickly, knowing full well what was coming next. I nearly screamed as a he poured some liquid, most likely a purifying or antibacterial agent of some kind, onto my hand and arm. I was thankful for a number of hands which suddenly held me down as my body thrashed out instinctively. I could feel the man grabbing the wounded hand and doing something with it, probably moving bones back, but I honestly felt no increase in pain, probably because I was already in as much pain there as I could be.

I was wrong. The man had been using a small knife to open up the cuts to allow for the bones to reenter, he hadn't yet moved them. I managed to catch a glimpse of the man as he grabbed onto the end of one of small bones jutting out of my hand. I watched in agony as he pushed the bone back into place. I screamed out as the pain jolted through my entire arm, somehow making me feel worse than I already did. My entire body seemed to scream in protest even though the bone was being pushed back into place.

As the man continued to do this, with my screaming in pain the entire time, the pain I felt while receiving the soul stone was much worse but at least it ended in a moment. With this pain, I couldn't escape, it just kept boring into my mind and making my body writhe.

Eventually, the mans seemed pleased with how many bones had been put back in and quickly bandaged up my hand and wrist. The rag in my mouth was quickly replaced and I could faintly see some blood along with a lone tooth in the old one's folds. I must have bitten down so hard that I dislodged a tooth. If I hadn't been in such pain, I probably would've been sad about losing a tooth, but all I could think of was how much my arm hurt.

As I cradled my broken appendage, I could feel a pair of arms lift me up and begin carrying me. I was pressed into a furry wall of muscle, which was surprisingly comfy and briefly thought:

"Not again…."

… before finally passing out in Ricardo's arms.

/

Blankness. An anxious existence where I wasn't connected to a single person, place, or thing. A thoughtless existence. no emotion or feeling in the entirety of the wor-

"GOOD MORNING!"

"AHH!"

I nearly leapt out of the bed I was lying in, instinctively moving away from the loud noise. As I moved however, my body suddenly tensed up in sore pain and I fell weakly off the side of the bed with a soft thump. I was slightly dazed for a few seconds, but a figure that I soon recognized as Ricardo rounded the bed and helped me up. He looked slightly embarrassed and seemed to be apologizing for scaring me as he set me back on the bed. I was about to tell him not to worry about it, I didn't want him to be angry or resentful towards me during training, after all.

But as I raised my hand to wave his numerous apologies off, I felt a slight phantom pain. It was just for a moment, but as I raised my hand I felt a jarring sting in my wrist and my eyes were brought towards my wrist at the sudden pain. I was confused for a moment or two.

"What the heck was that?"

However, as I looked closer at my hand, taking into account it's perfect health except for a few bruises, I began to feel a tightness in my stomach, an innate sense that something was wrong. My eyes widened as images of my hand mangled and limp popped back into my head and I couldn't help but put my other hand to my head as I remembered the pain. Ricardo looked at me, worry etched on his face as I grimaced when I realized exactly what had happened.

I had died. And now I was back.

Again.

/

Wow. So, Conor just cannot catch a break, can he? Well, this makes it more fun and it wouldn't be a Re: zero fanfic without brutal injuries and disappointing and sudden death. Anyhow, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter than normal, I just wanted to hit a pretty good cliffhanger. As always, I hoped you enjoyed and please favorite and follow if you enjoyed and want to see more. As for reviews, all are welcome and I encourage you to be as brutally honest as possible.

On a side note (well not really a side not, just not the main message), I am hoping to start a new main project besides the "Blade" stories and I just wanted to hear any feedback you all might have. It would be a RWBY crossover with Guilty Crown (My favorite Anime!) from Shu's perspective as he inherits the "Guilty Crown" or "King" semblance and gets dragged into a century long battle to keep the world of Remnant safe. He has to learn how to fight as a fully-fledged Huntsman at Beacon while also learning the inner workings of his semblance and learning to work with the other students at Beacon. I don't have a name for it yet, but if I start posting it, it would most likely be my main project for a time. I would appreciate any and all feedback, but please PM me instead of leaving it in a review for this story. That could get confusing.