Well, I'm back. Not that I ever left. For the past few days, I've been focusing on another story but I know I can't let this moment waste. Season 2 cour 2 is here which means the fandom is brewing I can't leave you hanging. So without further ado enjoy.
Felt zipped across the rooftops in the middle of the night. It had been so long since she did this but thankfully she and Rom had finally convinced the others to allow her to go out, although admittedly she was still a bit irritated by the conditions. She could still hear the familiar footsteps following behind her no doubt; the worrywart was trailing her. Fine if they wanted to follow then she'd be glad to give them a run for their money. She zipped and zoomed all over. Vaulting from roof to roof, sometimes entering into a few alleys to try and shake him off her trail. She doubled back a few times as well to ensure he would get confused. Finally, once she was a good distance away she stopped to catch her breath. However, a large shadow soon loomed behind having kept track of her this whole time.
"You almost had me, my Lady," The shadow whispered. Felt jumped and reflexively kicked the shadow only for it to block her attack. The moonlight illuminated the white dyed hair of the one who followed her, Reinhard Van Astrea, or as he went by in this disguise, Dante. "Had I made any mistake I would have almost lost you," He told her.
"I sincerely doubt you could," Felt scoffed as she turned around. The duo was up at a high point in the capital, easily overlooking the entire city. Felt simply went and sat on the edge of one of the rooftops enjoying the fresh cold night air. "You can take a seat you know," She told Reinhard, knowing he wouldn't really move much without her order. The Sword Saint graciously accepted and joined the young candidate on the rooftop.
"The view of the city sure is lovely," Reinhard commented. Felt merely rolled her eyes. She had seen this view a lot of times but it wasn't because it was lovely. From her vantage point here you can see the different classes in the cleanest way possible. You had the rich and powerful whose homes were to the left of her view; those were bigger and really well lit, then there were the middle class who were smaller and had fewer lights, finally, you had the slums to the right where the homes were small, run-down and nearly entirely engulfed in darkness.
"Never really cared if it was lovely, it's more like a map for me," She told him.
"A map?" Reinhard asked as he tilted his head. He could see what she might mean. You could theoretically use it as a guide if you planned to navigate but you'd probably need to get a little higher.
"I don't mean like a physical map, you idiot," She told him. "I meant like a map for my life," She explained as she pointed to the slums. "I started out in the darkness of the slums and then I'd work hard and slowly move out from there," She told him as she motioned to the slums and then to other houses in the city.
"That's a pretty smart plan," Reinhard said.
"It was barely a plan at all," Felt growled. "The day I met Subaru and Emilia, I had stolen Emilia's insignia and was going to pawn it for some holy coins. Unfortunately, it turned out the lady who employed me was a complete psycho bitch." She explained. "I probably would have been gutted right there and then if it wasn't for them," Felt grumbled. Usually, there were times when deals went south; someone would try to take advantage of her but Rom would always protect her. This time though, Felt had pushed it. She had seen it as an opportunity to make easy money and it came back to bite her hard. "I was lucky Big bro, and sis were as kind as they were," Felt admitted. Rom might not have survived if Emilia didn't treat his injuries and for sure all of them would be dead without Subaru's demon beast.
"If you're feeling guilty then you should know that it's not your fault. You couldn't have known any of that would happen," Reinhard told her.
"Yeah…it probably wasn't but then big bro comes back later and tells me I'm supposed to be a candidate in the royal selection," Felt admitted. "What the hell was he thinking when arrived at that conclusion?" Felt wondered. Seriously what kind of person comes and gives you that kind of opportunity after you steal from them and nearly get them killed. You either had to be insanely kind or insanely stupid and with Subaru, it was probably a mixture of both.
"I take it you're feeling insecure about the royal selection my lady," Reinhard voiced. "You should know that we have complete faith in your abili-"
"Why then?" Felt cut him off. "What do any of you see in me that makes you think I can be a good leader?" Felt asked him. Ever since she talked to Emilia she had been wondering that same thing. Everyone apart from Felt had a lot more experience than she had, and as for Emilia…Emilia was far kinder and more deserving than Felt was. "You, Rom, and Subaru, you all say I can make a good queen but what can I do that the others can't do better?" She asked her knight. "If I go and stand there who's to stop them from saying I can't do anything because I'm just a brat from the slums. I'm not even eighteen yet Reinhard," Felt admitted. She was young, immature, and inexperienced.
"My lady…what exactly brought you to start thinking like this?" Reinhard asked. It was a little uncharacteristic of Felt to act so. He had always thought his lady to be rather headstrong.
"I've just had a lot of time to think," Felt answered. Rom had so much faith in her as did Subaru and Reinhard. She would have laughed at the idea had the stupid insignia not glowed in her palm like it did Emilia.
"Honestly my lady, I have no idea," Reinhard told her. "Perhaps it's just intuition but maybe you underestimate yourself far more than you think," Reinhard explained. "Don't compare yourself to others; you are not Lady Emilia or any of the other candidates. You are Felt and no one else," Reinhard admitted. "If the Dragon didn't think you had promise, it would not have chosen you otherwise. As it stands I believe the five candidates are the five best choices in the kingdom and given that you were chosen means you already best hundreds of other people. So if you already beat hundreds without trying, what's another four for you?"
"Hehe, you sure know how to give a girl a pep talk huh, Reinhard," Felt laughed before something dawned on her. "Wait a second did you just call me Felt?" She asked.
"Well, that is your name right, Lady Felt?" Reinhard said.
"No, you said it without the 'Lady' part," Felt told him.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Lady Felt," Reinhard said. He blocked another kick. Felt however simply starting to laugh and he did too. "I take it you are feeling better now,"
"Yeah…yeah, I'm good," Felt told him. "Now let's head back to the manor," She said as she dashed off with Reinhard soon following behind her.
Elsewhere in the Roswaal Manor, a silver-haired half-elf was also venting her frustration as she rested her head down on the desk. Despite her best efforts, she was still feeling like she hadn't studied enough. She was aware of what people would say once she was revealed in the royal selection. The racial tension was something that would not just dissipate miraculously.
"You're thinking too much about this," Puck said from within his crystal. "You'll do great," He tried to assure her.
"Puck, they'll say I'm a half-elf. They may even accuse me of being the Witch of Envy," Emilia told him. For as long as she can remember people shunned her for looking like Satella, and Emilia didn't feel like becoming a candidate would change that in the slightest.
"Well, you could always drop out," Puck said flatly. "Never too late to turn tail and run, we can leave it all behind, and go and live the nomadic life," He told her.
"Puck, you know I can't do that," Emilia told him. "I have to wake up the other elves who a frozen in the forest," Emilia whispered. The half-elf thought back to the frozen statues in the forest. She was once among those statues before she woke up. Emilia didn't know what caused it or why she was the only one to wake up, but she knew if she was alive then so were the others. All the men, women, and children were all still frozen back there. For her to run off and leave them would just be selfish of her. So despite her discomfort, she would persevere. She would win the royal selection, become queen, and acquire the Dragon's blood to thaw them out.
"I know, but I'm just saying there might be another way to acquire the Dragon Blood than by punishing yourself with this," Puck told her. His first thought had been negotiating with the other candidates. Felt for the most part seemed like a reasonable girl and he was sure given her closeness with Emilia and Subaru she would give it to them without a second thought. As for the others, they would be more challenging but he was sure he could figure out a way to convince them nonetheless, however even if he could do these things, Emilia's pride wouldn't let her accept it.
"This is the only way, Puck," Emilia told him. The Great Spirit relented. If his daughter wanted to see this through then he would support her. He did promise he'd always be there for her.
"Alright," Puck told her.
"Thanks, Puck,"
"So just out of curiosity what are you going to say for the Royal Selection?" Puck asked her. He could feel a pause from his daughter as a flurry of emotions crossed her mind.
"The only thing I desire is for there to be equality, I want to undo all the discrimination, the Witch of Envy caused. I want to build a world where regardless of your age, gender or lineage, you would not be judged or condemned for simply existing," She answered.
"An admirable goal, my daughter," Puck told her. "That is a rather insightful idea. I'm sure many demi-humans feel the same," He assured her. If he wasn't in the crystal he would have flashed a big smile to her. Emilia didn't need to see him, though she could feel him just the same.
Emilia wasn't that naïve though; she knew it wouldn't be so easy. As much as people might support the idea of equality, hatred for the Witch and the suffering she caused was still strong. Had she been another type of demi-human, maybe she would have gotten more support but as it stood, Satella was a silver-haired half-elf with purple eyes, Emilia was the same. People would see her as Satella regardless of what she said and they would hate nonetheless. Even the other Demi-humans despised half-elves because of the Witch of Envy.
"Puck," Emilia whispered. The Spirit of Fire listened attentively to her. "Why do you think the Witch did what she did?" Emilia asked. It was a question that had plagued her mind many times. Why? Why did Satella do it? Why destroy the world? Why make the Demon Beasts? Why cause everyone all this suffering?
"Hehe…to be honest, I don't know," Puck told her. "Maybe I'll ask her next I see her," Puck joked…maybe. If he was being honest he would rather not meet the Witches again, although ironically Satella was the 'nicest' in the group so there was that. Beatrice might also know something as well so perhaps he would ask her next time, but still, he could get it straight from the Witch's mouth.
"That's not funny Puck," Emilia scolded. "You shouldn't wish to meet to Witch," She told him in a worried tone. Puck apologized nervously for his comment.
"You're right, Lia," He told her. If he made a careless comment like that in public then Emilia would definitely be accused.
Emilia soon let out a cat-like yawn as she stretched her arms. She had been studying diligently for the past few hours and it was now starting to take its toll on her.
"Well it looks like someone's in need of catnap," Puck joked.
"That wasn't funny and you know it," Emilia smiled.
"Regardless of it was funny, I'd suggest you got to bed now," Puck told her.
"I suppose your right," The half-elf answered as she went to organize herself for bed. "Good night Puck," She told him.
"Good night Lia," Puck responded.
"Are you really waking so late studying?" Daphne asked as she walked to the couch with a bowl of popcorn. The Witch of Gluttony had plans to now binge a new anime series. According to the title, it was supposedly about a rock doctor. She didn't know what it was about but it looked promising.
"A person who wastes an hour of time has not discovered the value of life," Echidna responded.
"What the heck does that mean?" Daphne asked as she sat down, eating popcorn. Echidna could be so strange sometimes.
"It's a quote, I was once read," Echidna muttered. "I wasted countless years seeking immortality when I could have done so many other tasks. I sort to prolong my life so that I could spend eternity learning and instead I wasted. I won't make the same mistake twice." She told the Witch of Gluttony.
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time," Daphne countered.
"Well, it looks like I did waste my time, because I didn't enjoy that life," Echidna countered.
"I don't know; I'm sure there were some aspects you enjoyed." Daphne cooed as she waited for all Subaru's memories of the show to start surfacing. It was a weird process; Subaru had described it as loading; where the memories would be pulled for use.
"I know what you're implying and I assure you I didn't enjoy my failures," Echidna countered.
"I never said anything about that," Daphne responded. "Maybe you're just projecting yourself on me…it wouldn't be the first time right Dona Dona," Daphne teased.
"Ever the cheeky one, I suppose" Echidna commented.
"We both have our obsessions, we're similar in a sense, so you're easy to understand," Daphne responded. "Nothing special about that," She told the Witch of Greed. "Say…why don't you forget about whatever internet stuff Subaru told you about and come watch a show with me," Daphne suggested. "Who knows it might give you a new perspective," She told the white-haired witch.
Echidna looked like she wanted to say no. Maybe argue that it was a waste of time but she would admit she did find some show interesting. Even if the abilities and powers of the individuals worked on a convoluted system, she supposes there always was some knowledge that can be extracted.
"Alright, I'll try your new show, but it better be worth my time," Echidna told the younger girl as she sat beside next her. The intro showed several people who were petrified; Echidna wondered if it was magic before the scene shifted. The introduction scene between the first pair of characters was admittedly amusing.
"You know…I think that green-haired guy seems kind of stuck up," Daphne commented as ate her popcorn. Echidna saw no problem with how the character acted he was logical, unlike his illogical friend there.
The first episode flew by rather quickly although admittedly the premise was unique to her. The world was hit by a green light, maybe some form of magic or 'technology', and everyone turned to stone. The two main characters were two friends who somehow managed to free themselves from the petrification; one was a logical and intelligent fellow while the other was an emotional love-driven oaf. When she thought Satella was ridiculous waiting 400 years sealed in Flugel's tower, she never expected someone would top her by waiting 3700 years sealed in stone. Still, she will admit, the logical friend had kept time by merely counting the seconds that passed by and already had a plan in motion once he eventually broke free. He was resourceful and she loved that.
"Well, then I guess we should watch the next episode," Echidna said as she went to hit next. Daphne seemed to smirk at this.
"Are you sure?" She asked. "Is the show actually worthy of your maidenly time?" She giggled.
"Admittedly yes," Echidna responded. "If the rest of this series is similar to what we witnessed, then it is worth my time. Watching as those two, sprint through 2 million years of development in science is quite intriguing to me and if the show is truthful to Subaru's world then I'll gladly take it as a substitute," She told Daphne.
"I bet she also likes celery head," Daphne thought. "Well then go and grab some popcorn because we're sprinting this as well," She told Echidna. "So get excited," She whispered as the duo proceeded to binge the entire first season.
The next day Subaru and the Witches found Daphne and Echidna passed out on the couch after they binge the whole of season 1. "I expected this from Daphne but…Echidna!" Minerva said in disbelief.
"How rude!" Typhon huffed as she walked forward to take a few of their body parts as compensation for leaving her out of their late-night anime session. She may have also felt a little betrayed that Echidna took her spot on the couch. Sekhmet thankfully stopped her just in time.
"Nevermind that let's just wake them up," Subaru said as he tried to wake up Daphne.
"One more bite," Daphne said as she continued dreaming. Subaru instinctively decided to stop for fear of being nibbled on again. With anyone else, he would consider it cute or adorable but not her.
Minerva meanwhile tried to wake up Echidna. The Witch of Greed stirred but surprisingly didn't regain consciousness just yet. However, she did sleep talk like Daphne, and what she said shocked everyone. "Not now Sen-Sen, I'm almost done running the calculations, they're exciting" Echidna giggled.
"No way…they didn't," Subaru thought as he flipped on the TV to see what show they watched. His eyes almost bulged out of his head when he saw the scientist with Stone peeling off his body. "Oh no," He muttered. He really hoped Echidna didn't go the route he was thinking otherwise Luginica would not survive.
How do you know when an anime is getting into a hype moment... when the Opening theme starts playing in the background for a character; any anime watchers know exactly what I mean as the best boy got that moment this episode.
On an unrelated note another anime I recently fell in love it has season 2 being released today or tomorrow...I'll give you 10 million points if you can guess which one it is.
As always thanks again for watching, leave a review to tell me what you think, and stay safe.
If anyone is interested I have a discord server, the link is wf9h5bpQkN .
