Jeez, it's freakin' freezing out here. Does Reinhard always have to invite us out when it's cold? Subaru walked down the alley as the cold air nipped at his stubbly chin. Although the knight uniform provided some form of thermal protection, it wasn't designed for below zero temperatures. The last time he felt this numb was when Puck froze him before he got possessed by Petelguese and, well, shattered.
His black reinforced boots, courtesy of Lord Roswaal's fortune, clicked against the stone pavement, the sound echoing across the street. The satisfying crunch of icy leaves reaching his ears, appeasing his broken mind. He reflected back onto the events of the last time Reinhard invited him, Julius and Felix to an outing. He got kidnapped, tortured, escaped, killed himself and then took down a mafia organisation. It was, unique, to say the least.
As he turned the corner onto Turacoverdin Avenue, a dash of red and purple snapped him back to reality, Reinhard and Julius popping into his peripheral vision. Noticing Felix had his back to him, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Sneaking up on him, he placed his hand on the unsuspecting Felix's left shoulder.
Felix yelped, jumping a foot into the air and turning to him. His panicked expression quickly softened when he noticed it was Subaru. "Nyah! Subaru-kyun! How did you sneak up on me!?" He lost his cat-boyian accent on the last half, the curiosity eating at him.
Felix had outstanding hearing, and almost a sixth sense. He could easily detect whenever someone was approaching him, the only person who bypassed his sixth sense was Reinhard. But Subaru? That was definitely bizarre. Reinhard hid his smirk as he looked to the floor.
Divine Protection of Prank Cooperation, allows the wielder to grant his own abilities to another in the name of performing a prank.
"Reinhard, what are we doing here?" Subaru asked with a grin still plastered on his face. He glanced up at the rather large sign hanging above the front door of the building they were standing in front of. It was in the toughest glyph, and it was in quite bad handwriting too. But he eventually decrypted it. It was a... Spa?
"I thought we should do some relaxing after everything that has happened. I know that last time I invited you all to do something it ended, strangely. So I asked Lady Felt about it and she suggested this place." Reinhard explained calmly. A smile on his face. Subaru's presence made him feel happy, or, happier. His antics truly tickled his funny bone, as they said back in the 80's.
Subaru nodded in understanding, before snapping his fingers and pointing to Julius. "And why did we invite him?" Subaru didn't actually hate Julius, but for the sake of banter and show-biz, they had to maintain the 'I hate you, you're dead to me' facade. Like siblings, I suppose.
"That's quite rude, Subaru. That's a nice uniform for someone who is a living insult to all knights on the continent." Julius replied, without hesitation. He didn't mean the things he said. He had grown quite fond of Subaru, but for the sake of banter and show-biz, they had to maintain the 'I hate you, you're dead to me' facade. Like siblings, I suppose.
"Ouch, I think me in every parallel universe felt that one." Subaru acted as if he was physically in pain. The remaining three raised an eyebrow each at his words. Parallel universe? What is he talking about?
Reinhard quickly double checked by using his Divine Protection of empathy, just to make sure he wasn't actually in pain.
"Anyway, cyan we head insyide? I'm getting cold." Felix sneezed at the end as if on cue. They all agreed and hurried inside.
"I must admit, this spa is quite relaxing." Julius sighed calmly. They were all currently sitting in a salt-water hot bath. Deciding to keep their dignity intact, they had worn towels around their privates, while Subaru covered his whole body, not wanting for everyone to see the scars on his body.
Not just the self harm ones, but the ones from the Ma-beast incident in the forest. Along with Elsa slicing him in half. And the handprints over his body from a fight with a certain Sin Arcbishop.
They all laid their heads back, relaxing in the heat of the bath as it softened their hardened skin. They didn't at all notice the bright glow of the pool.
As they all closed their eyes in unison, they swiftly drifted to sleep.
Reinhard jerked awake. His body felt tense, and smaller. He looked around quickly and noticed he was still in the bath. I must have fallen asleep. He leaned forward into sitting position, yawning.
.
.
….
It suddenly occurred to him that he just yawned, and his body did not feel like it should. He looked down at his hands and noticed his skin was a few shades darker than it was before.
Well, this isn't normal, Reinhard thought. He opened his fist and closed it, watching the tendons flex.
It hurt.
That sensation, more than anything, caused Reinhard to experience a first swell of panic. Hurriedly he looked around.
Subaru opened his eyes, leaning forward. Blinking a few times, he was rather quick to notice a few things wrong. To start off, he felt absolutely no fatigue whatsoever, that being muscle and mental fatigue. He also felt stronger, taller, and he could not feel temperature at all.
Looking down at his arms and legs, he noticed that his skin was a few tints paler, and his muscles were a heck of a lot more jacked. Now, I seriously doubt the water did this to me.
Glancing up in confusion, he saw Subaru, no, himself sitting across from him.
Reinhard was startling to gain an inkling of what was going on. He was staring at himself, after all. And he was in the body of… "Subaru?"
Subaru blinked, his face contorted into confuzzlement. If he wasn't hallucinating, his own body, which was sitting not even ten feet in front of him, was calling his own name. He quickly glanced around the pool, noticing that Julius and Felix were still there. Wait, where is Rein-..
"... Reinhard?!"
"Yes," Reinhard confirmed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from what had to be Subaru, in his own body. "We appear to have… switched places."
Subaru's eyes widened. Switched places?! We've literally swapped bodies haven't we.
He cleared his throat, leaning forward. "Yes, so it would seem." His mouth felt weird. The teeth felt different, so did his voice. His jaw moved differently. His vocal chords vibrated at lower frequency, the whole ordeal felt rather uncomfortable.
To top it off, he really didn't expect that sound to be made when he tried to speak. Of course, it is to be expected when swapping bodies, I suppose.
They both fell into silence, only being interrupted by Felix sneezing. They snapped their heads towards him. Speaking of the catboy, he appeared quite bewildered. He was looking straight ahead in a mix of shock, fear and confusion.
Reinhard and Subaru followed his gaze, finding it to be laid upon their fellow knight, Julius. Something clicked in their heads.
Subaru turned to Felix, examining his face briefly. "Julius?" He called out.
Felix.. Or Julius's head rotated towards him. "Reinhard?" He said.
"No, I'm Subaru." Subaru said.
Julius blinked, looking even more confused. "What?"
"It appears that we've changed bodies."
….
"What?"
"So we've all swapped bodies. How is this possible?" Felix, who was in Julius's body, asked.
"Well I know of a spell in the Yang element which is able to swap people's minds, however I know not of a spell which can reverse it." Reinhard, who was residing in Subaru's body, replied. He still felt strange in his friend's body, but the strangest part was feeling things he normally couldn't. He could feel the air temperature, he could feel fatigue, and tiredness. He felt his stinging eyes, he felt his aching shoulders and legs. It was, very bizarre.
"This is ridiculous, how could Yang magic even do that. I could only think of swapping our souls, but seeing that Subaru, in Reinhard's body, has all of Reinhard's Divine Protections, surely it does something more than that." Julius reasoned, still not entirely accustomed to Felix's small and frail body. He jittered nervously, feeling very vulnerable. Not only was he shorter, he had a lot less muscle mass, and wasn't confident he would be able to defend himself against a simple criminal.
Subaru scratched his chin and spoke up. "Back from where I'm from, we discovered that memories are just electrical currents running throughout neurons in our brains. I'm not sure about consciousness however, but following the previous logic, consciousness could just be a result of the electric currents and signals. So it could be possible to swap only our consciousness, but just taking the memories." He was impressed at himself for having thought of that. But he guessed it was the Divine Protections. He felt.. powerful. Too powerful.
The other three looked at him in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?" Julius asked.
Reinhard fell silent and Felix scratched his new head in thought.
"Actually, although I have no idea what electrical currents are, I trust Subaru on his knowledge of this. He's told me some other things about anatomy, and how to combat bacterial infections and diseases." Felix defended his now-red headed comrade. He was still scratching his head. Or rather, the scratching had turned into just running his fingers through Julius—no, his purple hair.
"That is true, I recall hearing all the people's talk that a few advancements in medical technology had been made by Subaru." Reinhard said.
Subaru glanced at the three and sighed. "I don't know if I'm right or not, it's a complete theory. People don't really know what causes consciousness. They've scanned the brain again an-"
"Whether you're right or not doesn't matter. Nor does it matter that we know how it worked. It does not change the fact that we have changed bodies and we need to find some way to get back." Julius interrupted.
"First off, don't interrupt me asshole." Subaru stepped towards him and went to poke a finger at his chest, but due to the fact that he's never lived with any Divine Protections before whatsoever, he couldn't control his strength and sent Julius flying across the room.
He flew into a wall at sonic speed, leaving quite a large dent and a few cracks in the stone. Subaru's eyes widened as he just processed what happened. "Oh shit!" He ran towards Julius to make sure he hadn't just killed his ex-purple haired friend.
I just thought of him as my friend... Wait, that is besides the point.
He kneeled next to Julius's body, examining the injuries.
Reinhard sprinted over to help but slipped on the wet tiled floor and hit his head on the floor, a cut forming on the back of his head. Never run around a bath/pool area, kids.
Felix rushed over to Julius's side, looking at the damage. He only smiled as he saw that the injuries had automatically healed themselves. He looked up and saw a confused Subaru, well, in Reinhard's body.
"I've created a fail-safe in my own body in the case that I take fatal damage. That way I can completely revive myself." He winked.
Subaru nodded and sighed in relief, looking over at Reinhard who was now on the floor. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the blood pouring from Reinhard's head.
"REINHA-"
"ARD!" Subaru visibly flinched, his heart had picked up the pace. But in front of him he saw a frightened Julius and Felix staring at him, while an indifferent Reinhard stares into nothing.
"Are you alright Subaru?" Julius asked. "You told me not to interrupt you then suddenly you started screaming."
Did. Did Reinhard just return by death ? Subaru looked up at Reinhard, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Suddenly he could feel what Reinhard was feeling.
What is thi-.. Oh right, Divine Protection of Empathy or something. He's feeling confused, a little scared and stressed.
"Are you alright, Reinhard?" Felix asked, placing a hand that he really wasn't used to, on Reinhard's shoulder. He flinched in response, snapping his gaze towards him.
"Uh.. Yeah." Reinhard nodded, not sounding too convincing.
Either way, we must carry on.
"We need to find someway to get back, I can ask Beatrice for her help, surely she can come up with some spell using the science. The only problem is that the Divine Protection that this body has can kinda scare spirits away." Subaru rubbed his neck.
I remember being at that party after my official knighting, Reinhard totally freaked Beatrice out.
"I guess I could ask Beatrice myself." Reinhard suggested.
"I think that for now, the less there are people who know about this, the better." Julius spoke up.
They all nodded in unison.
This is going to be a nightmare.