"I love you…"

The voice echoed through his head, over and over again, like a storm tormenting his very being. "No…" His eyes scrunch up, the wrinkles on his face clearly showing his discomfort, but even without such signs, his voice, hoarse and agitated, would also bring one to the same conclusion.

The echoing kept on going, like a pebble endlessly being skipped on the surface of a lake. It created disorder, fear, and worry, "Just shut up…!" He quivered at such towering emotions, quivering as if his life was on the line. Little did he know, what lay ahead.

"Aah-!"

With a jolt, his eyelids broke open from their seals and darkness enters into his vision. "..." It takes him a moment to realize his consciousness had reawoken, but in that small moment, a sudden churning sensation choked up his throat. His hands start to tremble as he notices his surroundings.

"This… this isn't the trial room…?"

The darkness he saw wasn't the same darkness that would usually greet him as he was brought back to his save point. The stone-cold floor, littered with dust and gravel, was no longer what he laid down on. Instead, it was something warm, pulsating with life, something he's unfamiliar with.

"Ughh…"

Not only that, but he also felt a slight pain on his shoulder and that shocked him the most. It made him recall what had happened prior to his awakening, "Emilia was…" Possessed, was what happened, but he doesn't want to say it, as if saying it would confirm that what he saw was truly what happened. An event that he dreaded had happened, an event he had tried to prevent had happened regardless, it chilled him, down to his core.

"Garfiel… Beatrice… Rem… Ram… Roswaal… Lewis… Otto…"

He uttered out all those names with his weak trembling voice, and grabbed his own head, "They all got sucked in too But… Why am I the only one here? Why… why does it feel like they've…"

A sudden shrill had stopped his mouth from saying any more, it made his body tense up, another person, or at least another 'thing' was nearby…

"..."

He gulps down his anxiety and finds the strength to get up on his feet, however wobbly they may feel.

The sound had originated from the vast array of darkness, there was no clear sign of what could have caused such a disturbance in the eerie tranquility, but for some mysterious reason, he felt inclined to go towards a certain direction, as if his body was being tempted by a foreign force outside of his control.

"H-Hello?"

His voice leaked out. Eager yet frightened to find out what lays ahead of him.

Treading sluggishly through with his feet dragging across the uneven flooring, he makes it closer, but darkness still surrounded, it was impossible to see anything in such darkness, it was as if his whole sense of sight was thrown awry.

Trickle…

He heard a droplet, a singular dewdrop hit the floorings of this unknown realm, breaking the pin-drop silence. "I'm sorry…" A frail voice resonated through the darkness, he jerks his head around to find the person responsible for it and to his utmost astonishment, a slender figure, who originally wasn't supposed to be there, had appeared.

"..."

He took a good look at it, at 'her', and he opened up his mouth. As if spitting out poison he asks, "Who… who are you…"

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

She repeats, over and over again as it becomes apparent that she's sobbing behind her hidden face. "Sorry… I don't want your sorry… what did you do to everyone, what did you do to them, to Emilia? Where is she?!" His fear turned into rage, his worry turned into anger, like a flick of a switch, his whole demeanor changed.

He ordered out an answer, stepping closer and closer to the figure as if he was cornering his prey. Forcefully prying her hands off from her face, he stares deep into her eyes, but doing so had made him stop right on his tracks. The face of Emilia, the one who he adores, had been plastered onto this figure.

As if this was her first time seeing him, she blinks, and her lips trembled, "You… You heard me…" Confusion arose and he fell on his back as the figure rushed to grab his hands, "You talked to me!" Her eyes start to waver once again, her hands trembling in his, "You're here… you're… I'm… Hk- It's been so long, since… I've seen someone!"

She collapses on top of him, her legs gave up in mere moments and they both fell straight down.

Her hands clinging onto his shirt with all the strength they have, she starts sobbing out words of relief, with a tone that'd make even a madman feel a slight tingle in their hearts. Faced with such emotions, Subaru, who had since been baffled by the look of her face, could only instinctively react by bringing his hands to her head in a soothing touch.

"..."

As if trying to comfort her, he strokes her head, hushing her down like she was a baby that had woken up from a terrible nightmare.

※ ※ ※

Time passes on and the girl had calmed down, smearing the last of her tears away from her eyes, she looks up to him, with her dark and dull magenta tinted iris', "You're… Subaru… Natsuki Subaru… the one who's been suffering because of me..." Affirming her with a nod and a long sigh, he replies, "You're quite informed aren't you?"

He lets the girl go, leaving her to sit by herself for a while, though it didn't seem like she could really stand being left alone for even a second, "I know for sure you're not Emilia… but what's with the face?" Subaru jumps straight back to the questioning, though he isn't nearly as aggressive now that he's calmed himself down.

"My face… I'm sorry, but this is the face given to me by my mom and dad… I really can't do much about it. But please forgive me if it reminds you of some bad memories..."

She says that with a lighthearted chuckle, intending to set a nice mood for a conversation, but the stagnating darkness only made it feel rather awkward, Subaru sighs and opens up, "I really don't have any bad memories when I look at your face, so don't sweat it… but come on, it's like fate's trying to test my heart…"

Shaking off his head from such thoughts he asks her, "You're Satella I'm assuming?"

She was surprised to hear that, but also, her head starts to droop down the next moment, "I see… even you, who's not from our plane of existence, know about my name… so it really was that bad?" She starts to quiver once more and looks to be on the verge of breaking down, but she suddenly drops down and starts prostrating.

"From the bottom of my heart… I'm sorry… for the suffering I've caused to you… to 'Emilia', and to the rest of the world…" Subaru was taken aback by such a random development that he slides a little further from her, from the sheer astonishment, "I know this isn't anything coming from me… but I'd like to at least let you know that I know what I did was truly-"

"You…" Trying to stop this from escalating further, he tries to reason things out with her, "If you really are sorry, then don't even do it in the first place… but I guess it was my fault in the first place to talk about whats 'taboo', so I'm partly at fault here..."

"..."

She looks to be unsatisfied with it, but doesn't try to complicate things, "If… if that's what you truly feel…" Guilt was still instilled in her face, but it seems she's gonna keep it to herself for now, "Alright… with that all out of the way, I'm gonna need some answers now"

Straightening up her back as the conversation finally starts to shifts gears she clears her throat, preparing for the onslaught of questions that is to come from his mouth, "Where is this place?" he asks, "...Simply put… an imaginary realm where my soul and mind reside in while my body is being held in the sealing stone…" He's heard of it, the sealing stone of the witch, protected by the great sage someplace far far away.

For all he could know this could very well be the inside of the sealing stone, but that's not very likely, besides, he was swallowed up at Sanctuary and it doesn't seem like he could physically get transported to the seal that is who knows how far away.

"Then Return b... or rather my 'looping ability' that I have, just what exactly is it? Why do I have it, and why am I not allowed to speak of it?"

He's learned his lesson, carelessly speaking it out would cause dreadful consequences, even if the witch is right there in front of him, he's been scarred, he'll think twice before ever making the same mistake again.

"This 'ability' you speak of… isn't it most likely your authority?"

She questions him right back, as if expecting him to already know the answer, "Since you're able to enter this realm with which I reside in, then there's no doubt you're connected to me… perhaps not physically, nor mentally, but with the help of my witch genes, the witch genes of Envy" Hearing those words, perhaps it made him a little uneasy. Remembering Betelgeuse, how insanely messed up he was, it made him fear for his own sanity.

"So you're saying that my 'ability' is an authority of Envy? Wait, that brings up the question, how'd I even get the genes in the first place? Did you forcibly implant them on me when you took me from my world?"

"..."

A moment of silence as her face started to churn in confusion, she looks back at him to reply, "I'm sorry Subaru… but I think there's a slight misunderstanding here. I didn't bring you over to this world…" With his pupils contracting, he expresses his pure astonishment with his rapidly beating heart.

"What? Then, perhaps the genes of envy did something?"
"...I don't know…"

For the longest time, he's always been under the impression that the witch of envy had been the one to bring him into this world, but if that's not the case, if that's really not how it works, then another third-party member had been the result of this.

"No, that'd make sense… Al, and that Hoshin from a hundred years ago, they haven't encountered the witch, neither have been persecuted for any 'miasma' so there's no way for you to be doing it… but then, who…"

He mentally slapped himself, now's not the time to question pointless trivial things, now's the time for answers, "Satella… please, just one more thing… tell me I can get out of here" She hesitates a bit, but does reply positively, "Fortunately, with your authority it is completely possible…"

"Then that'd mean…"
"Yes… whatever triggers you're ability, you'll have to recreate it..."

"Well, it's not the first time I've done that… but it's gonna be pretty hard without a knife or whatever" She looks at him, curious as to whatever that could mean? "What... what exactly do you need to recreate for you to loop?"

"Well... I gotta die, right?"

Subaru fell into confusion at her question, why wouldn't she know? Isn't it obvious that he's had to die to loop, isn't she aware of that?

"I... I see... but, that ability... it's so horrid..."
"Hmm, I wanna say 'I get that a lot', but I don't... well, nothing much we can do about it..."

"Sorry... I wish I could give you a quick way out... but I wouldn't want to carelessly touch you anymore..."

Those connotations could mean quite a lot of things, but it probably isn't something too intimate, 'I hope not at least' was the thought that crossed Subaru's mind.

"You have the witch genes of Envy, somehow… and as you've already been informed, I'm the witch of Envy, and the reason I went berserk was because I wasn't compatible with the witch genes… but you aren't like that right? You were compatible and even manifested an authority, so I'm afraid if you stay here any longer, you'll probably rip the witch genes of envy out of my being…"

"I see… is that a bad thing?"
"Not... necessarily… It's not like I can't live without them, but..."

Her voice dies down to the end of it, she also started to face away, it seems she wanted to stray away from that topic, but Subaru's curiosity got the better of him, "But…? If you can live without it, wouldn't it just be better for me to absorb them completely? Or wait, would I start acting like Betelgeuse or something? That wouldn't be possible right?"

"E-Eh, yes! You'll surely start acting like Betelgeuse so if you take them you…" She says it rather weakly, breaking off in the end as Subaru stared at her, "You're… really bad at making things up aren't you?" "Uh… yes, I've been bad at lying since I was young…" She says as if admitting to a crime.

"There's no downside in it, it's even a win-win situation…"

"But if you take them… then what left do I have to remember all my sins by, rejecting them would be like rejecting the damage that I've done to the whole world, I can't just be forgiven like that…"

In the end, what stopped them from such a sweet deal, was her own self-loathing, something Subaru understood very well, "You… don't know much about what happened do you?" From the words she spoke to the way she says them, no matter how you look at it, it seems a little too exaggerated.

"You said I'm the one you made suffer, but you don't really know what you did, you don't even know how I suffered right? Hell, you don't even know about Return by Death, how the heck are you supposed to know anything?"

"..."

"All this talk about you making the world suffer, it's all second-hand knowledge, where- no, who did you get it from?"

"..."

There's no mistaking it now, it's clear as day, "So that's how it is… there's two of 'you' isn't there?" She just looks down ashamed of it, like her whole life of lies has been exposed, "The 'witch of envy' that had engulfed half the world, and 'Satella'. Somewhere along the line, you've split your personalities haven't you?"

Whether it was right as she went berserk, or after she was sealed, two beings had been born from one, memories were split, so were feelings among many others. The picture can be pieced together from this, the witch wrecks havoc, and reports back to Satella of all the doings, some back and forth of this in an isolated place, one can see how it could escalate to this, "She's just been on my head all the time… telling me what she does, reminding me what I did, saying it's all my fault… I just…"

She's been hardwired to take the blame, is the conclusion Subaru came up with. "Stand up…" he says, startling her. With her legs still struggling, she tries to get up, yet she shook quite a bit. "Y-Yes...?" And like that she was up, still looking at the ground with guilt and whatnot.

"Listen here… We're gonna bust outta here… together!"

※

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Natsuki Subaru: Warlock of Sin

Prologue

[It all starts here!]

A/N

And we're here with a fresh new start. I've deleted all further chapters to keep up the pressure, I don't want myself slacking off like I always do.

So the basic plan is, I'm remastering everything, this time, without skipping the latter half of arc-4, and focusing less on the 'supporting characters' and more on the mains 'Satella, Subaru and a few others' so the story doesn't get too cancerously complex that I can't keep track of things.

Also, I'm gonna work more on 'power development'. I've found it pretty difficult to keep his authorities constant last time, there was also a mechanic 'Epitome of Sin' that I made up but never actually used last time. With him gaining all the authorities at once, I felt this was turning into those stereotypical 'op main char' stories with no development (even though i had plans on making it transition into something less of that)

Also, all his powers were basically fighting oriented so it felt too much like a power fantasy.

Anyway… I'mma say it right here right now. Two days, to One week. That's the schedule