Chapter 1 (Still Standing)
It's been an odd couple of days at the mansion. Emilia had returned from the capital without Subaru or Rem. She told Ram that Subaru was in the capital recovering from his injuries, and that Rem would be returning soon.
Her voice carried a tone of frustration and confusion, as she spoke to Ram bitterly. Recalling the events that led up to Subaru being injured. Ram did not press the subject further and continued to work paying no mind or care to the mess Subaru got himself in.
Ram knew Subaru would turn back up eventually. Knowing he was stubborn and would stand by Emilia's side no matter what, though he never told anyone his reasons for it, Ram had already put together a vague reason behind his motives. It also didn't surprise her one bit when she heard that Subaru disobeyed Emilia's own wishes just to be near her.
The days went by slowly and Ram waited for the return of her sister and the unavoidable return of Subaru. Ram grew slightly more impatient and nervous about Rem's whereabouts, as each day passed. She thought Subaru would have Rem bring him back as soon as possible.
On a particular sunny day Ram was in the village getting groceries for the mansion, which was no different than any other day. After retrieving them from the store she made her way back to the mansion. Before she could step foot on the trail back.
The noise of panicked and distressed screams immediately caught Ram's attention. She turned her head to look at the commotion, and took in the sight of the witch's cult massacring the village. They destroyed homes and killed every villager one by one.
Ram dropped the groceries from her hands and made a sprint back to the mansion to inform her master and Emilia of the incoming invasion. Unfortunately for Ram, she was noticed by one of the members. Who called out to his fellow cultist that someone was trying to run away. It didn't help that Rams pink hair made her stand out like a beacon.
When Ram heard the sound of footsteps of an army behind her. She picked up her running pace soon, assisted by the biggest adrenaline boost Ram has ever felt before. The sounds of the footsteps behind her grew closer and closer as time went on. Ram's mind started to wonder why they hadn't killed her on the spot, could it be that they wanted her to lead them to wherever she was going. There was no time to think of that, and Ram continued her journey.
Suddenly the sight of the mansion filled her eyes, at the end of the trail. With her end goal in sight, Rams' focus was dead-set on the gates up ahead and pushed past the giant pain in her stomach that supplemented her growing exhaustion and fear. As she got increasingly closer to the safe point that was the Rosswal mansion.
She tried to block out the running footsteps behind her that now seemed to be at arm's length. They were so close Ram could almost feel them breathing down her neck as they got even closer to her.
Suddenly she felt a blade shove right in her torso as a cult member grabbed onto her shoulder, stopping Ram dead in her tracks. Ram moved her head down to look at the extruded blade, and immediately felt the sharp pain of the blade twisting as it was removed from her body.
Collapsing to the ground, Ram felt a heavy object hit her head knocking her unconscious as blood leaked from her wound. The cult members' attention turned to the giant mansion up ahead, leaving Ram to succumb from her injuries and die of blood loss.
Though Ram wasn't dead, her body still possessed life. That clung onto her body, refusing to leave, unlike her blood that flowed from her body like a small faucet.
Ram's consciousness suddenly started to come back to her. Her vision growing more clear, she took in her surroundings. She was laying in bed in an unfamiliar room. She had a small headache that radiated pain. Trying to move her body she was met with a sharp pain in her lower torso.
She looked down and noticed it bandaged up and the wound taken care of. Her vision was half obstructed. Ram knew from the feeling of a tight fabric wrapped around her head, that her head injury was also tended to. Though Ram still felt a slight headache from her injury.
The only thing she remembered up to this point was the witches cult's invasion of the village, and how Ram tried to run away and inform her master and Emilia.
Suddenly the door to her bedroom creaked open slowly, Ram looked at the doorway in anticipation of revealing the identity to who brought her here and also retrieving the answers to why she was here.
A little girl that seemed to be no older than ten revealed herself at the doorway holding a bowl of soup in her hands. Her face became shocked when she took notice of the alive and conscious Ram sitting up and staring at her.
"You're awake," The girl excitedly said as she approached Ram slowly and carefully so as to not scare her.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Margaret, what's yours?"
"Ram"
A friendly smile came to the girl's face when Ram told her name. She talked to Ram in such a friendly tone, like she was a child her age.
"How did I get here?" Ram asked.
"Mother found you and brought you home to take care of you. I of course helped. You were in pretty bad shape when you first came here," Margaret responded sympathetically. She wanted to pat Rams head as she got closer but held off.
She proceeded to hold a spoonful of soup near Ram's mouth. Silently asking for her to eat it. Ram got the easy hint and compiled, letting the little girl feed her the contents of the bowl. An even bigger smile grew on her face as she fed Ram spoonfuls of soup. Clearly she had been enjoying taking care of her patient, when she was unconscious. Margaret held out another spoonful of soup, but Ram didn't eat it this time. She stared at the little girl with a serious look on her face.
"How did you find me?"
"Mother enountered you laying on the ground. At first she thought you were a dead body, but when she checked your vital signs you seemed to still be alive luckily,"
Ram had no words. On one side she was grateful this small family took her in and saved her life, but at the same time she still had a dozen more questions that begged to be answered
"Anway, what were you doing in the village?" The girl asked curiously.
"I was getting groceries." Ram responded, leaving her answer intentionally vague.
"Did you see the members of the... witches cult?"
"... Yes"
Margaret's expression grew worried, she was still so young and innocent. She had been told terrible stories about the witches cult and the atrocities they committed. The massacre of the village being one of them. She felt sorry for Ram, and nothing could stop her from leaning into hugging Ram tightly.
Ram let out a tiny yelp of pain as Margarets body pressed up against the wound on her torso. She immediately broke away when she heard Ram yelp, and a sorry expression grew on her face.
"I am so sorry… Just know you are safe now"
Ram put on a thankful light smile to ease the girl's worries of harming her, yet on the inside she remained emotionless, still having countless questions and curiosities.
"Do you know about the Rosswal mansion?" Ram asked.
"Yes… That place was burned down along with the village" Margaret said regrettably.
Ram's body froze in place, as fear for Rosswals life grew large. The sweet and innocent Margaret noticed Ram's unsettled expression that appeared on her face and grew nervous along with her. Margaret didn't want to be the one to tell her about any of this.
"Do you know who Rosswal Mathers is?"
"Yes"
"Where is he?"
Margaret let out a heavy sigh and walked to the doorway. Before she exited she turned to Ram and gave her a sad look.
"One minute"
She walked out leaving Ram in the room alone for a bit. She still had yet to move a muscle as the emotions of fear and worry grew larger. Eventually Margaret walked back in with a folded up newspaper in her hand.
Not saying a word she held it out for Ram to grab onto. Ram quickly took it from her hands, and unfolded it hastily to read its writings. Her eyes took sight of the date printed at the top of the paper. The paper seemed to have been published two weeks after the attack took place. Her hands started to tremble and a pit of fear grew in her stomach as she read the story's headline.
"Emilia The Ex Royal Candidate Has Been Assassinated"
Ram couldn't even bring herself to read the story. She continued to stare at the headline, with the only thing on her mind was facing the reality of Rosswal being dead. Tears built up at the corner of her eyes as she continued to shake, unable to grasp and accept the reality she was met with.
Rosswal saved her life and provided so much to her, quite literally being her only guide for a huge part of her life. Without him she didn't know what to do, or who to turn to.
Despite this a sliver of determination and hope still resided, and that was to know the whereabouts of her sister Rem. The most valuable person in Rams life. Ram was hoping she had been saved from the carnage by being away from the mansion when the cult attacked.
Her eyes read through the paper hastily trying to find more answers she seeked. Tears streamed down her face when the paper confirmed Rosswals death, although a body had yet to be found, the writing was already on the wall. It was enough for Ram to draw a conclusion and proved the reality she feared to live in.
Margaret grabbed a cloth and started to wipe Ram's tears as she continued to read the paper, not even turning to look at her once. She found it hard to keep reading after she found out that Rosswal was dead, but she needed to know where her sister was.
A slight feeling of relief came over her, when she found no mention of Rem being dead or anybody else fitting her description. But on a different note there was mention of Emilia, the one who made the headlines.
Apparently Emilia survived the attack on the mansion. She then went to the capital, but once news broke out among the public, she was immediately blamed for the attack. Her notorious resemblance to the witch of envy only fueled the fire of hatred and anger towards her.
Emilia was kicked out of the royal election, for failing to defend her domain title. The council even considered putting her on trial for the attack; public opinion was leading everyone to believe she was the one responsible for the massacre.
Before any of this could take place. Emilia had tried to escape the chaos and return to her hunter gatherer lifestyle, living in the woods. This time to never come out again. Though she was hunted down and killed on the spot.
The next story followed Reinhard being credited with saving Lugnica from a rogue spirit, but Ram had already stopped reading. Placing the paper down on the nightstand, not wanting to ever look at it again.
Ram now knew she was the only survivor of the massacre committed by the witches cult. She began to break down in tears knowing that everyone she ever knew was now either dead, or their whereabouts unknown to her. Not even her own sister's location was known to her.