Well, here it is.

I'm sure many of you are going to be disappointed at the lack of reaction in this. But it's all for setting detail. So please don't hunt me down and demand chapter 3 be uploaded in the next few days. I ain't Moe.

Big thanks to twisted on Discord for helping me out with writing the character dynamics(and like half the chapter haha). Please go read his fanfic Re:Lambda by twisteddonffn if you haven't already. Full of the scorpion girl, if y'all like her (which I think you do).

Anywho, please enjoy!

Subaru's head flies up into the air and the entire screen turns black.

"He… slashed him?" Roswaal slowly spoke, shock and a bit of relief on his face as he slowly calmed down.

"S-Subaru…" Emilia shook her head with tears trailing down her face, she wanted nothing more than to pick him up and hug him, but Beatrice was in his lap. So she opted for putting her face into his shoulder.

"Dammit…" Crusch looks at the floor, attempting to stave off her tears, or, at the very least, not show them to anyone.

Ricardo hurriedly pulled the twins into his arms as Subaru's head was separated from his body. The latter made no complaints as they turned into him, desperate to escape the horrific sight.

Similarly, Anastasia turned away from the screen, desperately trying to get the images of the last viewing out of her mind. Unfortunately for her, no matter how much she tried, the image of her corpse plagued her mind. The lifeless eyes in them forced her to dry heave, and it took her leaning on Ricardo to finally regain a semblance of calm.

The Emilia camp was in no better condition, the death of their beloved friend leaving all of them in tatters.

Garfiel held his head low, tears leaking out as he banged his closed fist against the floor, angry at himself. He was angry at his failure to fulfill his duties as the shield of the camp. Once more, he had failed at protecting his captain and the thought filled his mind with rage, a growl escaping his mouth.

The ashen-haired merchant ignored the growls of the boy next to him, as his mind was too busy comprehending the sheer brutality shown on the screen. He held his face in his hands, his mind blanking as the image of Subaru being decapitated played over and over in his mind. Otto was lucky he was sitting, for he currently did not have the ability to even stand straight, with how unsteady his legs were.

In the row behind Emilia, a blue-haired maid was currently sobbing in grief for her beloved. Even after watching 3 arcs, seeing her hero die once again had not become any easier for Rem. Seeing the state he was reduced to in the tower, along with how cruel his death was, made the girl's heart break in two. She grabbed the hem of her skirt as she cursed gluttony, first for putting her in a state where she could not help her hero, and then for so cruelly killing him.

Beside Rem, her twin sister currently had her fist balled, glaring at the now-black screen as her thoughts wandered back to the still-sleeping knight. Over the course of the viewing, Ram's respect for Barusu had increased, not that she would ever admit it to the boy. It was this respect that made each death of his hurt her ever so slightly. She cursed herself at somehow being taken out, the sight of her dead body flashing across her mind. Resolving herself, Ram vowed to ensure that she would not be taken out again, nor would the boy suffer for her weakness.

While Ram finalized her promise, Roswaal looked on, a thin grimace replacing his usual carefree grin. For most of the viewings shown, Roswaal had largely been uninterested in the matters shown, the failed loops quickly lost their charm and the correct loops were ones already ordained by his gospel. All that changed when the previous viewing had been shown. For the first time, the jester felt both fear and relief. Fear at Satella and her appearance at the tower. Had she succeeded in capturing Subaru and forcing her love onto him… Roswaal shuddered at the thought. Subaru is his greatest resource, his gospel, the key to finally achieving all his goals, and the thought of losing him had filled the margrave with fear. If Subaru had fallen into Satella's shadows, then his entire 400 years, everything that he's regretted doing to achieve his goal will have been meaningless. The only hopes that Roswaal has left are Ram and Subaru. No matter what, he will hold onto those hopes, lest he falls into despair.

A great spirit watched the margrave, a look of concern on her little face. Her concern was not directed at the clown, but rather the boy she was sitting in the lap off. Her foolish contractor always got himself in danger all to save the ones he loved. One of these days she needed to have a serious talk with him about the danger he was always in, but that could be saved for another day. For now, she snuggled inside the tracksuit of the sleeping boy, basking in the warmth it brings. Right now Beatrice needed to be reminded that Subaru was safe, that he was and will be there for her, always.

Felix sighed as he saw Beatrice snuggle inside Subaru's tracksuit, his mind a flurry of thoughts. Truthfully, the catboy did not know what to think. He had seen this boy could through trial after trial all just to have the people he cared about make it through another day. While Felix was too busy insulting Subaru for his suicidal tendencies and deprecating thoughts, the boy had been going through hell and back, something Felix knew he could never replicate, even if it was for Crusch. With this thought in mind, Felix breathed a deep breath and thought about how Subaru, a person infinitely better than what he could ever be, forces himself to die for his companions every loop. If Subaru joined our camp...

Wilhelm saw the look on his companion's face and placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to reassure the catboy as they both stared at the tense state of their leader. Both had seen the pained state Crusch was left in after the viewing, and it hurt both of them that they could do nothing but watch on. Wilhelm crushed the handrest of his seat as he thought about Subaru, the boy whose eyes reminded him of his day's fighting in the civil war. The hardened yet despaired eyes on the warriors did not deserve to be on the eyes of a poor boy, yet Subaru had them anyways, all because he tried to protect the people he cared about. Truly, Subaru was an amazing person in the old man's eyes, and he would try to assist the boy any way he could.

The leader of the camp, Crusch herself, was in a worse state than usual. Over the course of the viewings, she had felt a certain feeling arise in her chest, aimed at the black-haired youth. This feeling caused her endless pain each time the boy suffered another harrowing death. Now seeing the state of madness he was in during the last viewing, she could not stop the tears that dripped down her face, hurriedly wiping them away to ensure that no one saw her moment of weakness. She tightened her fist, desperately trying to will herself to stop to no avail. Truly, her heart ached for Subaru's unfortunate circumstances.

Felt glared at the walls in the room as she thought back to the viewing. Each moment of it only served to fuel her rage. Rage at the members of the tower for not protecting her big bro, rage at herself for not being able to take Subaru into her camp, rage at Reinhard for not doing the same in her stead. Felt knew that the rage she felt was irrational in its base, but she couldn't help it. Subaru, one of the best people the thief had ever met, had been forced to deal with unbearable burdens, yet he still carried them anyways all to help the people around him. The strength her big bro displayed in dealing with all these trials inspired the thief, and she was desperate to do anything in her power to make her big bro happy, take him away from the suffering he had been forced to bear.

As the blonde thief glared off into space, the red-headed knight beside her stared down at the ground, his eyes nothing more than hollow husks as his mind looped the sights of the dead bodies for him to see. He… was a failure. Reinhard knew he was a failure, and now his error was plain for all to see. Despite having all the power in the world, he had failed at doing anything meaningful in his life. He couldn't even defeat an Archbishop or Great Mabeast. Compared to Subaru, he was nothing but a pretend hero, unable to save anyone. He lamented on his failure as the images of the dead bodies continued to loop, finally ending on the scene of Subaru's beheading.

That's right, Subaru. Subaru, despite having no powers except that awful ability, had managed to subdue two great mabeasts, and successfully kill a sin archbishop. Subaru had done more than the 'Sword Saint' had done in Reinhard's entire life. Subaru deserved to be lauded as a hero, not Reinhard. Reinhard was simply a monster, a monster that couldn't even hunt other monsters.

While many in the audience wallowed in despair, distraught over the last viewing, a fiery-haired woman could be seen holding a fan to her face, smirking at the pathetic sight before her. To Priscilla, the swine in front of her was the lowest of the low, to be brought down so far over one mere viewing. Her eyes wandered to the only interesting sight in the entire theater, the still sleeping face of the self-proclaimed knight. How a commoner somehow took over her mind, Priscilla would never know, all she knew was that he would be an interesting addition to her camp, and she needed to merely wait until he fell right under her feet. Until then she would continue to watch these viewings, a malicious grin on her face as she prepared to see the failures of the half-wits camp shown again and again.

On the seat below Priscilla, a helmeted knight sighed, following his lady's gaze to the sleeping boy. Seeing a lull in the viewings, Al continued to think about Subaru's journey. The only person that came from the same world as the knight, had been forced to endure so much pain, all to be a hero and save the lives of his loved ones. If that's what it would take to save everyone, then Al would have left long ago. Shaking his head, Al still could not understand how the boy had not yet given up.

Subaru's death on the screen has left the group with mixed feelings. It was painless, yet he still died alone. It wasn't by Satella, but by another threat; one whose power is unknown. As if to make matters worse, it was by an Archbishop no less.

"Subaru-dono wasn't killed by the Witch of Envy, but rather an archbishop of the Witch's cult." Wilhelm began rationalizing what they've just seen, even if he'd rather curse Gluttony for his transgressions. "Witch cultists should wish for the Witch of Envy's release more than anything, correct? They want her to be able to do what she wants… And yet this one killed Subaru-dono while the Witch of Envy wanted him alive."

"Eh?" Crusch looks up at the old man, forgetting her attempts at hiding her crying. She quickly realizes that she's looking at Wilhelm with tears trailing down her face and hurriedly wipes her tear-stained face with her sleeve. "W-What do you mean, Wilhelm?"

"...I mean that the Gluttony archbishop must be different from the other cultists." He says, without commenting on her poor attempts at composure. "Comparing him with Sloth yields very strange differences."

The group's entire focus was immediately centered on him.

"The sin archbishop of Gluttony is bathed in mystery, and has only been reported to exist. No more information outside of that is confirmed. He and Sloth seem to be completely different from each other, as Gluttony actively went against the Witch of Envy instead of trying to fulfil her every wish as Sloth did."

The old man caught his breath for a moment before continuing.

"Therefore, the Witch's cult may have differences between the high-ranking members. If these members have different goals than Sloth's, then why did they join the Witch's cult? All this time, we've been under the assumption that the Witch cult's goal was the resurrection of the Witch of Envy, yet one of their highest-ranking members spurns that goal?"

"Are you saying that the Witch cult's goal is not the resurrection of Satella, I suppose?"

Beatrice questioned, still trying to wrap her head around the conclusion the old man had reached.

"I believe that we may have to reconsider the Witch cult's goal."

"...But what other goal could they possibly have, I wonder?"

Emilia thinks about how Pandora attacked her home for the sole sake of opening a seal located there. The Witch cult's goal may very well be related to the strange seal in her hometown. Just what was its importance, and could it be more important than unsealing the Witch of Envy?

"I think you're all forgetting something more pressing…" Felt scoffs at all of them, before letting rage fill her face. "WHY THE HELL IS A WITCH CULTIST AT THE DAMN TOWER IN THE FIRST PLACE?! THE SAGE SUPPOSEDLY KILLS ANYONE THAT APPROACHES! YET HE DOES JACK-SHIT WHEN A DAMN WITCH CULTIST SHOWS UP, AND EVEN WHEN THE WITCH OF ENVY SHOWS UP?!"

Felt was furious at the situation. The others were too busy theorizing while her big bro was dealing with a mass murderer that could behead him in an instant!

"...I'm sure there must be a reason why the Sage-sama didn't act." Reinhardt calmly replies, trying to soothe the thief's rage.

"Reinhardt-kun, surely ya' know tha', ta' convince someone, ya' gotta believe what ya're sayin' yourself?" Anastasia immediately notices that Reinhardt wasn't convinced at all about what he was saying. "She's absolutely correct. Th' sage should've been there. And yet, he wasn't even seen."

"What are you implying, Anastasia-sama?" Reinhardt replies, curious about the merchant's thoughts on the matter.

"Simple, He's dead." Anastasia spoke with absolute certainty.

"That's not possible!" Was the gut-response of several others to her bold statement.

"Nyat Sage-sama fought the Witch of Envy with the other two heroes! There's no way he's dead!"

A snap of a fan resounds throughout the room, silencing the fools who know no better.

"You commoners all cling to your fantasies, and deny what we've just witnessed. Your beloved Sage is tasked with preventing the very thing we've just seen, and yet you'd deny the most plausible possibility?" Priscilla admonishes them about their foolish notions. "The Sage may very well have died of aging along with the first Sword Saint."

Felix grits his teeth and looks away, angry that he cannot disprove her words.

"The thing mineself is most curious about is thus: How did a child make it to the watchtower but not this generation's sword saint?" Priscilla looks down on Reinhardt with a slight hint of scorn.

"I-I…" Reinhardt cannot defend himself. It's something he's grappled with since the day he failed to even get close to the tower.

"Weeeeell, thaaaat's because of Gluuuttony's ability." A voice resounds throughout the room, coming to the defense of the Sword Saint. The most unexpected man to ever help, Roswaal L. Mathers. "He caaaan eat memorieees and use them for his own benefit, you seeeee~"

"Oh? So the child can remember things that others have experienced?"

"Indeeed, Priscilla-sama. He could easilyyyy find how to tame the flying draaagons of Vollachia, no?"

Priscilla nods at his words, satisfied with the fascinating answer.

"Okay, the sage isn't doing anything because he's dead, and the archbishop got to the tower because… he can ride on the backs of sky dragons." Felt summarizes the information while slowly nodding. "Now, tell me, why is he at the tower?"

"I'm noooot prone to thaaaat information, my apologies, Felt-sama~"

"Maybe he doesn't care about the Witch of Envy, but still wants her unsealed?" Frederica offers her opinion. "Perhaps that's why the Witch of Envy showed herself at all, because he unsealed her?"

"PFFT! Yeah right!" Al starts laughing at her stupidity. "An unsealed Satella would literally just stop everything around her! Like how we saw my bro and everything around him freeze when he tried to spill the beans about Return by Death! Except it would be literally everything. Every person, animal, magic, and soul would freeze in a massive radius around her."

Shock filled the room. Satella is capable of that? Just what happened 400 years ago to allow the 3 Heroes to defeat her? And how does Al know this? Is he connected to Satella like Subaru is?

"If she's capable of even that… Then how did the 3 Heroes defeat her?" Otto pops the question, looking at Al for an answer.

"It's actually pretty simple. Just have a constant magical field around yourself and you'll be fine." Al states matter-of-factly. "Though, doing that just means Satella knows you're there and she'll basically teleport to you and eat you. So I wouldn't recommend it."

"Then… Did the 3 Heroes set a trap for her when she tried to eat them?"

"Dude. That was 400 years ago, you think I've personally seen that shit? Hell no."

"Ah, s-sorry." Otto gives a nervous smile and scratches his head, ruffling his hat.

The room fell into silence. Al seemingly had information about the Witch of Envy who was sealed 400 years ago. That information, which would usually never be taken seriously because the source is a human-a species that rarely live more than a hundred years-, was plausible because it seemed that Satella's seal was not as effective as everyone had hoped. Satella could just… leave whenever she wanted, as seen in the loop.

Did she not because of a reason? Perhaps the sage prevented Satella from leaving? But why didn't they show up when she was attacking the tower? If she's able to leave whenever she wants, why hasn't she been sighted in the past 400 years? One by one, they each concluded that Subaru is the keystone to the puzzle.

But is he the only key? Satella only showed up in the first three arcs when Subaru tried to explain Return by Death, but in the presence of a sin archbishop, she showed herself and spoke coherent words to him. Perhaps she's only allowed to show herself when Subaru and an archbishop are in close proximity?

"Okay so, the sage died of old age or whatever, but what about the other's who died in the tower?" Felt destroys the silence. "Did that sin archbishop Gluttony kill them?"

"It's highly likely, Lady Felt." Wilhelm says with darkened eyes. "If Gluttony truly has the ability to eat and use others' memories, then he can likely use the skills that come along with those memories. If he were to eat a highly renowned swordsman, then his combat potential would likely increase exponentially."

"And he ate…" Ram slowly turned to look at her wide-eyed sister. "If he has my sister's memories… He mustn't be allowed to be anywhere near Barusu."

"I shaaaall personally guarantee that, Ram." Roswaal's eyes hold a strange fervor while he's speaking. I'll never allow my gospel to be destroyed ever again.

"Thank you, Roswaal-sama." The maid bows her head down to her master.

"..." Rem looks at her sister and smiles. Her sister had a rough exterior, but deep down, she truly cared for the people around her. Her smile stops. Wait, Gluttony… eats memories? And when I was eaten... He never needed to wound me? The knight Julius-sama is certainly stronger than I am, meaning he'd certainly want to eat him...

Rem's face slowly morphed from one of love to abject horror.

Ram immediately noticed and dashed to her sister's side. "Rem! What's wrong?!"

Rem's eyes slowly registered Ram's concerned face. Her mouth opens; her voice trembling, "G-gluttony and S...Satella aren't t-the only p-problems in t-the tower…"

"What?!"

"Wha' is tha' supposed to mean?!"

Shock immediately overtook those who heard her quiet voice. The Witch of Envy and the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony wasn't the only problems in the Pleiades watchtower?! Those two foes are basically in another realm of strength when compared to Subaru!

"Ah… hah…" Rem starts to lose her breath from the intense worry she feels for Subaru. Her hero is amazing, no doubt about that. He was able to kill the White Whale and Sin Archbishop of Sloth, after all!

However, the Witch of Envy has been terrorizing the world for 400 years, someone even the 3 Heroes couldn't kill. And Gluttony… He was skilled enough to prevent her from inflicting a scratch on his body. Both of them together, mixed with another who can kill Julius Juukulius and even her beloved sister… Rem felt trapped under all the stress that was compounding inside of her.

"REM! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Rem's forced back to reality when her sister starts screaming into her face and shaking her shoulders.

"...Thank you, Nee-san." She mutters to her sister before taking a deep breath and standing up. She turns and looks at the crowd with a neutral expression, as far as a neutral expression that she can manage.

"...The Sin Archbishop of Gluttony and the Witch of Envy aren't the only threats within the tower."

The silence is deafening.

Each person in the room wanted to deny the possibility for more obstacles stacked on top of the already-impossible task of defeating the Witch and Gluttony.

So they waited for the oni maid to explain her reasoning.

"During my fight with the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, I wasn't harmed in any way. He simply… touched me, spoke into his hand, and ate the air… After that, I woke up in this place." She shook her head at the fact she wasn't even able to land a blow upon the Archbishop's body. "Meaning that he doesn't need to deal damage to win a fight…"

Roswaal sucked in a quick breath. He understood what she's trying to say.

"Both he and the Witch of Envy leave no trace of damage to their opponents. Patrasche… vanished into the Witch's body, and the Archbishop doesn't need to deal damage to his foe's to win a fight."

Understanding started to show in the listeners' eyes.

"But we all saw the bloodied corpses of everyone… of my sister… Meaning that someone else must be in the tower as both of the other obstacles don't even leave a corpse behind."

"W-we don't know that!" Felt quickly tried to make an argument against Rem's conclusion. "Maybe they put up a better fight against the Archbishop than you did and they forced his hand! A-and… Didn't the old man say that the killer needed to be highly skilled in weapons? The whole memory thing adds up so that the Archbishop was the one who killed everyone!"

"Buuut," Roswaal intervened. "Isn't beeeeing highly proficient meaningless when you can just wiiin with a touch of youuur hand?"

"T-then…" Felt looked around for a moment to think of a rebuttal to the clown. "W-what if touching someone wasn't the only requirement...?

Hey! Maid! Was there anything else that happened during your battle with Gluttony?"

"Well…" Rem thought back to her encounter with the two Archbishops.

Both of them were extremely repugnant, a feeling that anyone would get just by being in their presence, easily putting her on guard. They talked back and forth for a few moments before introducing themselves to her. After the fact, when she didn't introduce herself back to them, the child explicitly stated interest in her name.

A being known as an Archbishop, one who follows the doctrine of an evil organization that strikes fear into the hearts who even hear its name being mentioned… Had an interest in her name?

"Before we fought, he wanted to know my name…"

"See!" Felt put her hands on her hips and jeered at the crowd. "And you were all so frightened of another enemy in the sage's tower. Now we know that he didn't erase them because he couldn't without knowing their names! Case closed."

"...There's a problem with that."

A voice sounded out. One that hasn't spoken for some time. He sounded hollow inside like he and his emotions were never there, to begin with.

"I would've, without a doubt, given my name." Julius spoke in a defeated tone still staring at the screen. "I am...was a proud knight who would give his name to any enemy, especially one from the Witch's cult."

He blinks, washing his face with the tears that were still left in his eyes.

"He would only need to make anyone in the tower slip-up once, or just listen keenly to us speaking each other's names. Once he ate someone, he'd have all the rest of the names in a flash. I'm sorry Felt-sama, but Subaru needs to suffer more, apparently."

The bitterness within his voice spoke volumes about his mental state. He was unable to help the one he's sworn to protect, nor was he able to befriend the man who constantly gives his life to save the people that Julius himself should save. He had failed in all ways in his duty as a knight.

He had given up. Given up being Subaru's friend. After all, this is all just some sick game of someone wanting to watch all the people in the room agonize over events that no one remembered, constantly showing their failures and the consequences stemming from them. Consequences that they'll never see; without the screen, they'd still be none-the-wiser.

"I'm leaving. I'll see you all in 10 hours." Julius then stood up from his seat and walked down the steps and towards the room where Anastasia's group sleeps. Not a shred of his usually knightly demeanor remained as walked away from the group.

"W-wait! Julius!" Felix shouts out while getting out of his chair and rushing towards him, desperate to make him rethink his actions.

"What? I'm currently trying to use the time that we've been given."

"Given…?"

"You haven't noticed? Look." Julius points his finger towards the dark screen. Or at least it should have been.

The screen had changed whilst everyone was focussed on conversation, reading the words on the screen, it states.

AUTO-PLAY IN 9 HRS, 58 MINUTES, and 48 SECONDS

"The gracious screen will grant all of us another scene to watch in ten hours." Julius continues, his tone holding no emotion. "I need to sort myself out. I'm feeling … quite disgusted with myself right now."

"Wait! Julius… Why are you being so…" Felix tried to find the word to describe Julius's attitude.

"Rude? Mean? Uncaring?" Julius shook his head at the catboy's inability to find such words. "Because I can't stay in this room. I need to sort my thoughts out. Alone."

"If it's about not being able to save Anastasia-sam-"

"Ferris, please stop."

Felix bit down on his lip to prevent himself from talking. The tone that Julius had used was uncharacteristically serious. Continuing to try and convince him to talk about it would result in disaster.

Felix looks over to his other friend, Reinhardt, with a pleading gaze. The Sword Saint nods and stands to speak to his friend.

"Julius, please reconsider not talking about it with us. It'll help trying to sort out your thou-"

"Oh, please. You don't understand what this feels like. But you will. After all, this screen is evil, and the person behind it is even more so."

Julius looked up at the Sword Saint with disgust and anger filling in the former-emptiness of his gaze.

"Soon, there'll be a scene where you're unable to protect Felt or a moment where your father attempts to kill you. Or even an example of you failing to protect our country. Something that makes no sense! Something completely unthinkable!"

The knight was tearing up, cursing his uselessness, his inability to do anything. He was forced to watch his failure time and time again, and he had finally reached his breaking point. He jabbed a finger at himself as he continued his tirade to his friends,

"I was unable to protect the person I'm sworn to! Nor could I protect a little girl from a Witch Cultist! This is something that I'd never know if not for this monstrosity of a screen! I'm supposed to protect the people from these calamities! And yet I see someone else, who should be less in all aspects than I, CLEAN UP! AFTER! ME!

You'll see that, no matter how strong you may be, you will fail, slip up, mess up at one point. And when that time comes, it's not you but another, an innocent individual who forces themselves to bear the consequence of that mistake and undo it, undo your mistake while you are none the wiser! You, a knight with strength far exceeding the common man, have no choice in the matter.

The worst part is, you won't even remember it. That innocent person isn't able to tell anyone, not even the knight that failed them.

It'll hurt you more than any blade could ever do. You'll never be forced to live with the consequences of your failures, all because Subaru cares too much. Those failures came about because of your inadequacies, but you'll never have to deal with them. We've all been saved countless times by Subaru, and he's undone so many of our mistakes. I do not doubt that we've all died before and that Subaru took it upon himself to save us. He continuously treads forward and asks for nothing in return, is there any more heroic gesture?

Reinhardt, you'll soon understand the pain that I'm feeling in my heart. The inadequacy that I am when compared to Subaru. I should be stronger than him, have higher standing than him, and have more allies than him. But even with all of those at my disposal, he still cleans up after my mistakes.

...

...What am I but a fool that wields a useless sword?"

And without another word, he turned and continued walking.

"You're running from the pain?! Is my knight such a great coward that he'd run away like a scared child?!" Anastasia shouts at her knight, desperately trying to get him to reevaluate his stance.

"..." The Greatest Knight stops and turns back to his sworn leader. "Please do not worry, Anastasia-sama, I just need some time to collect my thoughts and then I'll be back to normal."

He bowed, and finally walked into the room, out of sight.

…

…

...

"...NORMAL!? THAT'S THE EXACT OPPOSITE BEHAVIOR THAT MY KNIGHT 'OUGHT TO HAVE!" Anastasia roars, she then promptly stands up, and quickly walks down the stairs to give her knight a piece of her mind.

"...'E should probably go too…" Ricardo whispers to the twins, and then quietly stands and walks down the aisle opposite Reinhardt and Felix with the two in tow. They made an intense effort not to make themselves known to the group's focus.

"..."

"...Alright." Reinhardt closes his eyes in acceptance of his friend's hurtful words. He is absolutely right. Subaru is simply greater than him. His dragon sword is meaningless to the eyes of the dead. But Subaru had the ability to save everyone, even those who have lost their lives. He truly was better than Reinhard or Julius.

"...Why was he so… self-deprecating…?" Felix spoke with tears forming in his eyes. Felix couldn't stand seeing Julius so broken down. The state his friend had been reduced due smashed at Felix's conscious, the cat boy cursing his inability to heal a mind.

Felix slowly rose out of his chair, his mind still reeling from the utter hopelessness on Julius's face. Everyone watched him slowly walk away, but he paid them no mind. Right now he needed to be away, away so he could think, try to find a way to heal the battered mind he was just shown.

Reinhardt watched Felix slowly move to Crusch's room with uncertainty in his eyes. The red-head was conflicted, what should he do? Truly, he was hopeless, unable to even help his best friends. Before he could spiral any further he felt a hand tugging his sleeve, turning around he was met with the sight of Felt staring at him.

"Help him." The thief whispered, pointing at the still retreating form of Felix.

Reinhard smiled at Felt, grateful for her permission.

"Of course, my lady," he replied, standing up out of his chair. He gave a hurried nod to the room as he met up with Felix as the former arrived at Crusch's room.

"I suggest you all get some sleep as well. Hopefully this situation becomes stable in the morning… If we even have those now." He bows respectfully to the group and enters the room.

"Indeed, Aldebaran, come with me." Priscilla orders her knight, and they both leave the suffocating atmosphere that the room now holds.

Their footsteps echo throughout the room as they walk down the stairs towards their sleeping quarters. No one wanted to start an argument after everything that just happened.

However, before Priscilla leaves the room, she turns to the group.

"Mineself suggests that you all follow the Sword Saint's will. Whilst we share this space, mineself would rather not have the room be so dull and boring. It must be different when mineself wakes or you pitiful fools shall face the consequences."

Priscilla finishes speaking to the group. Her ire is understandable; while sharing a room with droll commoners is something she'd rather not do. If she must, she'd want the room to be full of interesting happenings, not full of downtrodden weasels that don't know how to handle a little bit of sorrow.

And so, she enters the room with her knight. Whispering to him: "Mineself hopes you wouldn't be so foolish as to forget that you are entitled to a punishment."

Al sighs and shakes his head.

"Good."

Seeing Priscilla's and Al's backs disappear into their room, everyone in the theater began to comply with both her's and the Sword Saint's suggestions.

"Guess our camp's are sleeping together tonight." Felt said while walking alongside Crusch. "Though I suppose it would be better than sleeping near Anastasia's room. I doubt we wouldn't be able to hear them through the walls."

"I suppose that's true." Crusch said simply, not wanting to talk much, still lost in her thoughts.

Felt then turns around to face Emilia.

"Now then, hand 'em over." She says while holding out her hands for the unconscious boy that was currently slung over Emilia's shoulders.

"I won't." Emilia curtly replies.

"Seriously? You called yourself a Witch at one point, you think I'm gonna leave my bro with someone like that?" Felt said, exasperated at Emilia's stubbornness.

"I'm not talking about this right now, I'm not in the mood." Emilia responds firmly, attempting to get away from the other occupants.

"Oh? Not in the mood she says? Well, I got-"

"Why don't we all sleep in the same room? That'll solve the problem." Felt gets cut off by Crusch, who quickly doused the anger building in the room with a solution.

"...I'm fine with that." Emilia sighs, hesitantly agreeing to Crusch's solution.

"Well, as long as Reinhardt's watching, I don't mind too much." Felt added, also agreeing to the solution offered.

At the end of the conversation, the three camps convene into one (albeit large) room. The room itself was full of more beds, food, and other necessities than anyone would want. More than enough to fit even the three camps.

Reinhardt looks questioningly towards Felt as he sees Emilia's camp enter the room alongside her.

She gave him a look that said 'Deal with it.' He nodded and continued to comfort Felix, who looked like he was asleep.

The rest who entered the room didn't want to talk and simply wanted to get as much sleep as possible. Each member took an empty bed to sleep in, but they probably wouldn't get much sleep anyways, not with the endless train of thoughts born from the viewing still plaguing their minds.

What Julius had said weighed deeply in their minds. How long were they going to be trapped here? The group hadn't even come to a consensus about the woman that had killed their previous caretaker, and now they had to deal with the knowledge that they may have no choice but to rely on her to escape this place; if she was even coming in the first place.

Whilst the three groups were setting their thoughts straight, a problem arose.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emilia looked down at the thief who was aptly named, as she was trying to steal the sleeping boy from her.

"He's sleepin' with me. Sorry big sis, but I'm not budging on this. He ain't sleepin' with you." Felt retorts.

"Not a chan-"

"Maybe we can all sleep with him togethe-"

"No."

"No."

Crusch huffed as the three women could not reach a satisfactory answer to the predicament. Thinking for a moment, she tried to offer one last suggestion.

"...Then why don't we sleep in a circle with him in the middle of all of us?"

Felt sighs, and nods while looking at Emilia to see if she'll give her approval to the suggestion.

Emilia looked at both of them. She shook her head in defeat. The two meant well, and she knew that. But she was ever-so-slightly mentally strained after all of the events of the viewing and post-viewing, and she needed to be reminded that Subaru was still there for her to help relieve some of that strain.

"Fine…" She muttered and laid Subaru down in a bed in the middle of the room.

Emilia then walked over to some of the beds and lifted them, one-by-one, over to Subaru, arranging them into a small circle around the ever-sleeping boy.

After setting them down, she gestures to them while staring at the other candidates.

The three entered their respective beds. However, they weren't attempting to sleep. Rather, they were waiting to hear if someone was going to stand up and try to take Subaru into their own bed.

Seconds passed, which turned into minutes, finally turning into hours and still, Emilia stayed awake, constantly making sure no one would try to steal her beloved knight. Emilia couldn't hear anyone moving, let alone getting up; it was completely silent. Eventually, drowsiness took over the half-elf, and she fell asleep, despite her wishes to stay awake.

Emilia woke up to sounds and shouts of confusion and shock. Rubbing her tired eyes, she looked around before noticing a crowd gathering around where Subaru's bed was.

Cursing herself for succumbing to sleep, Emilia hurriedly got up and ran to the center bed. Pushing and shoving through the crowd, she finally reached her knight's bed. Emilia craned her neck as she tried to gaze into the face of the knight...

...Who wasn't there?

He wasn't there.

Someone took him.

Oof, a cliffhanger!

Had to do it to 'em.

Should I make this a recurring thing? Would you guys hate me if I did? (Rhetorical, I don't want to know if you guys will hate me because then I will make this a recurring thing.