Subaru opened his eyes to the room one could easily mistake for being unused. This time, he was immediately greeted by the woman who sounded like she was whispering in his ears.
?: Well that could have certainly gone better.
He was slightly disoriented from his death, but, since it was largely painless and instant, he was able to reply fairly quickly, tossing the knife aside in the process.
Subaru: Okay lady, who the fuck are you? I thought I threw your damn crystal away!
He immediately began to rip the necklace off, greatly disliking the sensation of her speaking to him. It was feeling more like an uncontrollable intrusive thought than a real whisper with her every word.
?: Like I said before, touch the pendant around your neck if you desire answers to your questions.
Subaru paused.
Subaru: Hold on. What do you mean by "before"? Does she know about Return by Death?
?: Such intensity in your voice. My heart will flutter if you keep this up.
Subaru: Answer my damn question!
?: You're no fun. And you're bad at listening. I already told you how to get your answers.
Subaru: Okay enough of this shit.
His patience having reached its limit, he ripped off the necklace and, this time, tossed it at the window. The glass shattered and the pendant fell outside.
Subaru: Whoops that may have been too hard-
Suddenly, the door a few meters in front of him burst open, revealing a rather concerned maid.
Petra: Subaru-sama are you alright?! I heard some glass shatter!
Subaru stood up from his chair, face to face with the amber-haired maid, irritation plain on his face.
Subaru: Listen little girl, I have no time for this right now. I need to go-
He was interrupted by the sound of the window opening to the right of him. He turned to see a man with flaming red hair and a slightly concerned look on his face stepping into the room.
Reinhard: Subaru, I noticed you threw this outside. May I ask why? And what it is exactly?
Shaking himself out of his state of shock, scowling, Subaru replied, "Of course you'd jump three stories in an instant like it was nothing just to irritate me."
Reinhard lowered his head and meekly stated, "I deeply apologize if I have offended you Subaru. It was not my intention nor my desire. Should you wish for me to destroy or dispose of this crystal, I shall accommodate you at on-"
Initially, Subaru was shocked at the lack of hatred the Sword Saint held towards him. Next, he was shocked by the friendliness and frank care in his voice. There was even a hint of respect in there. Only after acknowledging the strange reality that the Sword Saint, whose friends, family, and kingdom Subaru had ruthlessly destroyed, was treating him like a respected friend, did he finally interrupt.
Subaru: Have you lost it?
Taken aback, Reinhard simply replied, "I-I'm sorry?"
Subaru: Either all your Divine Protections have failed you and you've finally gone insane or I've somehow managed to make a breakthrough in my own mental state and have gone double insane. I thought that Bete was kidding around when he talked about the nature of madness but clearly he was right.
For the first time in a long time, Reinhard was at a loss for words. He simply stared at Subaru with a very un-knightley look of utter confusion. Have… Have I acted in such a vile manner that Subaru not only questioned my sanity but also his own?
In an attempt to break the awkward silence, Petra spoke up, "Ahem Well... Reinhard-sama, Subaru-sama… dinner is ready and the others are waiting in the dining room."
Excusing herself, Petra made her exit, leaving Subaru and Reinhard in the room alone together.
The door closed and then there was silence. An awkward silence. A really, very awkward silence. The two simply stared at each other waiting for the other to speak.
Have you finally decided to abandon me too, Subaru? Have I finally, truly demonstrated how much of a failure I am to you? Was it my treatment of Garfiel? My performance is Preistilla? Was it my disrespect of this pendant that you always seem to hold with you no matter where you go?
What the fuck is going on? No, seriously. I ruined this man's life several times over and he's treating me like a friend. My greatest enemy who's killed me thousands of times is really just standing here confused about why I'm confused about his friendliness. I guess that makes me confused about why he's confused about why I'm- you know what? FUCK THAT. I'll just ask him.
Subaru: Hey…
He was struggling to find the right words to express his confusion. He settled on the most open-ended and simplest ones he could come up with.
Subaru: Why are you nice to me?
Reinhard: Why am I… nice to you?
The red haired man thought for a moment, confused by the question. He answered as honestly as he could.
Reinhard: Well, the simplest answer to that question would be that we are comrades serving the same Lady.
His voice dropped in tone, filling with a sense of melancholy.
Reinhard: However, the true reason is that… when the only one in the whole world who gave me hope abandoned me… you took my hand and welcomed me as a comrade… maybe even as a-
The knight lowered his voice to a barely audible level, as if the next words were a whisper directly from his Od.
Reinhard: -as a friend.
To this, Subaru laughed. He laughed hard, loud, and proud. Subaru laughed with a greater intensity than he ever had before. He was struggling to stand and hold back tears.
Subaru: You… wheeze… we're... hahaha… you think we're friends?
Reinhard looked absolutely mortified. He tried to keep himself composed before the laughing Subaru. He felt almost as hurt as when Felt left. Yes, of course Subaru feels this way. I was a fool to think otherwise. I was a fool to dream, to even hope for a moment that I could be his friend, to have a friend.
Reinhard: I- I am sorry for making such a presumption Subaru. It won't happen again.
Oh this is just precious. The man is on the verge of tears! The legendary Sword Saint whose power is comparable to a god's is about to cry because I laughed at his desire to be friends with me. I take it back, now this is Satisfaction.
As Reinhard's face gradually contorted into a sadder and sadder expression, Subaru calmed himself and spoke to his nemesis in frank terms.
Subaru: Sword Saint, as much fun as I'm having with laughing at your suffering, and believe me it is quite fun, I need you to tell me when and how exactly I "took your hand". The last time anything remotely like that happened was when you tried to choke me to death.
Emilia sat patiently in the dining room with only one thing on her mind: Subaru.
Jeez that dunderhead is taking sooo long in getting here! He promised me he wouldn't be late again! You have to keep your promises! Promises… I keep my promises… like with Mother Fo-
A splitting pain spread through her head. Although she tried hiding it from the other occupants in the room, she still felt her eyes wetten with tears at this train of thought.
I have to focus! Subaru is the only one here who matters. He's the only one I can trust. Puck left me. Why Puck? Why Mo-
The pain she felt this time spread to her heart. It felt as though it was frozen and broken in half. Unbeknownst to her, a chill started to spread throughout the room.
I keep my promises so why does no one else? Why does everyone run away and abandon me? Except Subaru. Subaru's always there for me. Subaru will always save me. But where is he right no-
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of crashing and breaking behind her. She turned to see a rather bloodied Subaru being choked by an unusually angry Reinhard. It seemed as though he had been forcibly knocked through several walls and floors to end up in this position.
Subaru croaked out in as loud of a voice as a person with an immovable vice-grip around their neck could, "How the hell… are you… more mad… than last time?"
Clearly all those words of hate specifically designed to get under his skin that were never effective before become infinitely more potent when said by a perceived friend. Fuck. Why didn't I think of this before?
Reinhard: Everyone! This person can not be Subaru. He… knows things Subaru couldn't know and is saying things he'd never say.
Declaring this to the dining room occupants, Reinhard held an expression of mild dislike which, for Reinhard, might as well be utter hatred. An imposter. He must be an imposter. Must be.
He desperately tried to cling to the hope that the always correct, always knowing, always intelligent Subaru who saved so much and did so much good was incorrect about Reinhard. He couldn't possibly know all of those things about my family. He could know I'm a monster but never truly why I am. He must be an imposter. Must be.
Emilia: SUBARU!
As if on reflex, Emilia jumped out of her seat at the sight and ran to help Subaru. As she went, the whole room, if not the whole mansion, was instantly frozen. The maids, Garfiel, and likely all the foliage outside became statues of ice. Roswaal was still breathing, if barely. He had to cast fire magic upon himself to withstand Emilia's cold.
Reinhard maintained his grip on Subaru's neck, completely unaffected by the cold. Subaru's resistance to him lessened as he began to lose feeling in his frozen hands. Every breath felt like he was huffing liquid nitrogen and he could no longer feel any of his lower body.
Emilia: GET AWAY FROM MY SUBARU!
The cold intensified and even Roswaal struggled to stay alive. Subaru felt like he was losing consciousness as his blood began to quite literally freeze.
Reinhard: Emilia-sama! Please, there's something wrong with him! He isn't our- your Subaru!
The words they spoke grew progressively muffled as the cold embrace of death neared.
Emilia: Subaru is Subaru! And I will trust him no matter what anybody says! Let him go!
Unable to speak, Subaru merely thought to himself: Not this… shit again.
Again, Emilia and Reinhard stated their names. And again, Natsuki Subaru lost his life in a blinding flash of light.