Reinhard fell to his knees, his eyes red as tears flowed from his eyes. He had no idea what just happened, but it was the exact same as when he 'died' in the Spa. He came back, but before.
Subaru rushed over to him, kneeling down and putting his hands on Reinhard's shoulders. "Reinhard? What just happened? Are you alright?" His face was painted with concern, and worry.
Reinhard looked into Subaru's eyes, wondering why. What just happened, what did he just witness?
"You're not him.. You're not my Subaru." A cold dark voice echoed through the endless void.
Reinhard tried to look around, but he had no eyes. He had no body, no ears. It's like only his mind existed here.
"Where is Subaru? What have you done?" The voice echoed through the corners of his mind, he felt fear, panic.
"Reinhard!" Subaru snapped him back to reality. He glanced around quickly, verifying his surroundings. He wasn't quite sure where he was after he had been stabbed, but by god he does not want to go back there.
Noticing he's still in Subaru's body, and Subaru being in his, he began wondering who it was that spoke to him.
"Reinhard?" Subaru called once more.
Reinhard looked up into his eyes, opening his mouth to speak, but closing it once more. What should he say. 'Hey I've just been stabbed'?. He didn't want to sound crazy. Then again, Subaru was the very definition of crazy.
"I… I was walking down the street, and… I felt this pain in my back. It hurt, so much." Reinhard shivered at the memory of the icy pain he felt in his lower back. In his Sword Saint body he couldn't feel pain, and it was a relatively new sensation to him. It terrified him.
Subaru sighed and pulled Reinhard into a hug, which caught him off guard. He didn't ask him what he was doing, cause he had a feeling Subaru didn't know either.
"What happened next?" Subaru asked, patting his back. He quickly looked around, noticing they were in an alley just next to the Knight Garrison. Content that no one was watching them, he continued.
"I.. Everything was black, and this voice spoke to me. It was so cold, and dark." Reinhard carried on, stopping to sniff. "And before I know it, I'm back here."
Subaru pulled away and scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Reinhard, I am about to do something crazy. It might work, or it might not."
Seeing Reinhard nod, he continued. "Reinhard, I can return by death." He shut his eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain to come. Sensing that it hadn't arrived, he opened one eye, seeing everything as it was.
Reinhard raised an eyebrow in concern. "Return by d-" He wanted to ask but was cut off by time completely freezing. He noticed a black hand appearing from nowhere, approaching him. He could feel panic in his brain, but he couldn't move anything but his eyes.
The heart phased through his chest, towards his heart. Time resumed and Reinhard felt an overwhelming pain in his chest.
Subaru yelled a few profanities, pulling Reinhard towards him and placing his index and middle finger on Reinhard's neck. The Sword Saint wasn't quite sure what his friend was doing, but it felt relaxing.
Subaru sighed in relief. "Your heart is still beating, that is good news. Don't say return by death under any circumstances. I imagine the only reason I can say it is because Od Laguna is keeping you alive, I guess?"
Reinhard nodded, it seemed to make sense. But what the hell was Return by Death.
Sensing Reinhard's confusion, Subaru continued explaining. "When I die, I get sent back to a certain point in time. I have no control over when I end up, but it has been both a blessing and a curse in the past."
Reinhard's eyes widened as his mouth hung open. He couldn't exactly say Subaru was lying, as he just witnessed his power first hand.
Thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. Subaru knowing things he shouldn't have, his impeccable timing. How he brought down the White Whale and the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, and supposedly slaying the Great Hare.
Of course he succeeded, he couldn't lose. Everytime he failed he got sent back, to try again. But it came at a price.
Having to die to do it is a bit extreme. Reinhard has only died twice, and it nearly drove him insane. It was traumatic, and he never wanted to do it again. He never wanted to feel pain again. He never wanted to feel hot or cold again.
Oh, but wouldn't that be a death of its own? A sanitized life—it'd be the same as those final few moments of nothingness
There was no way out then, was there? It was all or nothing, and both were awful.
Subaru was still talking, and Reinhard could barely hear him. He had to listen.
"It's pretty wild, isn't it?" Subaru was saying. "And I think it's because of Satella, or something—oh, that's a bit of a taboo name, isn't it, oops, my bad—"
Not only was Subaru talking, but he was always desperately buttonmashing. Well, as close to buttonmashing as one could get when the buttons were divine protections and one's hand was their mind. Or soul? Subaru didn't really know, and at this point he didn't really care.
Fuck, Reinhard looks super out of it, Subaru thought desperately. Divine Protection of Lasagna Making? Why isn't there anything useful in here?
Here! Something in Subaru's mind clicked. These are the emotion-y ones! Divine Protection of Empathy—no thanks, we'd be stuck in an anxious feedback loop. He swiped through them—and wasn't it weird, that that was the terminology he was using—and finally found one he liked.
Divine Protection of Memory Sharing, don't fail me now.
Doing the real life equivalent of left clicking, his vision suddenly darkened. Trying to look around, he could see nothing but everything at the same time. It felt kinda like the shadow garden
Oh, this must be my own mind. Alright, let's see how this works. Do I just think of a memory?
Suddenly, hundreds of scenes appeared in front of him. He was suddenly given a body, and he could move forward.
Walking in a random direction, he noticed that each scene was painted on a crystal-like screen. Looking closer, each scene was a different memory.
Continuing his walk, he saw one memory which made him freeze in fear and anxiety.
Before him, he could see Rem being held several feet in the air by Unseen Hands. Her limbs were being twisted while her bones crunched in fatal manners.
Tears began to form at his non existent eyes, he approached it, reaching his hand out. "Rem… Rem." He croaked. It had been so long since he saw her anywhere but in bed, asleep.
His hand touched the crystal, and suddenly everything flashed white.
He came back to reality, noticing his hand on Reinhard's shoulder, who was seemingly zoned out.
Subaru gasped, realising what he just did. Oh shit oh shit oh shi-
Subaru tugged at the chains binding him to the cave walls. His screams of rage echoed throughout the cavern as Petelguese continued to torture Rem in front of him
Rem… What happened to you… I remember you.. Subaru said you were… Are.. Ram's sister… ? Why am I…?
Petelguese's insane cackles filled his ears, making blood-hot anger boil inside him. "PETELGUESE! I WILL KILL YOU!" Subaru kept barking at him
When is this? Petelguese.. That was the name of the Sin Arcbishop of Sloth. But I thought Subaru could see his unseen hands.
Minutes passed as it continued. Rem being twisted in inhuman ways, while Petelguese laughed as Subaru screamed his lungs out.
No… this never happened. I'm… I'm Subaru, here. I'm not Subaru.
Just before leaving, Petelguese approached Subaru, grinning maniacally, inches from his face. "Your own sloth did this, believer in love. Soon, the ordeal will be upon us!" He laughed crazily once more.
This… couldn't have happened.
"I hope you starve soon, goodbye, Natsuki Subaru!" Petelguese's voice got quieter and quieter as his footsteps echoed throughout the cave.
No, why is this—
Tears flowed down Subaru's eyes, his vision being blurred by the water.
why—
And it blurred and it blurred and it blurred, and the echoes of Petelgeuse's footsteps grew until they weren't echoes at all and simply a ringing, inescapable silence.
…
It was broken only by the heaving gasps of Rem as she pulled herself forwards. Seconds was measured in her every twitch. Minutes by her breaths. Hours by her slow creep towards Subaru as he watched her, helpless and pathetic and insultingly whole.
And then Rem was close enough to touch. And then she was touching him. And then she was breaking his chains and falling to the ground.
He couldn't tell if she was alive. For a moment, he didn't want to know. For a moment, he just wanted to lie next to her.
For far longer than that, he thought there's no coming back from this.
And then Subaru woke up.
The almost-shadow garden shivered, static-like, around him, and then shattered. Subaru was back on the street, right in front of the Knight's Garrison and across from the Little Demon running store.
"Oh, shit," Subaru said, looking down at Reinhard, who was openly sobbing.
He patted Reinhard on the back a few times and Reinhard just cried harder. "Sorry," Subaru said. "That, uh, wasn't what I meant to do." He attempted a lighter tone. "These things should come with warnings."
He waited for Reinhard to answer, but he didn't. "Reinhard..?" He placed his hand on his shoulder.
Reinhard kept silent, the only noise he produced was the sobs and sniffles. What he had just witnessed was not something most people could handle.
Subaru gritted his teeth in panic. Nice one Subaru! You've fucked it up!
He would've tried to comfort him further, but a swift rustling noise behind him, and a strong sensation in his gut, made him jump to his feet.
Turning around, he saw three men in blue and white cloaks. His eyes widened as he recognised them. The Ninth Tail?!
Without a second of hesitation the three charged at him. He was caught off guard, but time seemed to slow. Well, time slowed down, but not him. He walked forward, punching one of them in the stomach.
The one in the middle was sent flying back across the alley. Subaru's eyes widened at his strength, once more having underestimated the power of the Sword Saint.
When he thought about it, he had no idea how he just triggered that Divine Pro-... Oh! Muscle memory!
Grinning, he looked at the other two, who were both running really slowly towards him. Wanting to test a bit more of his power, he kicked off the wall, soaring through the air until he tackled the one on the left to the ground.
The hooded man's head shattered against the ground, a bone crunching noise reverberating in his ears. Turning his head to the last one, he swept his leg under his feet, making him fall to the floor.
However once again he used too much force, making the cultist flip way too fast, causing his face to smash into the floor. His head exploded from the impact.
Subaru's eyes widened slightly at the scene he just witnessed. Ew, that is gross.
Time went back to normal, the air blew against his face once more. He turned around, expecting to see the crying Reinhard that he left there.
Panic seeped into his mind as he saw he wasn't there. He was in fact at the end of the long alley, being carried by another man cloaked in white and blue.
He activated his Divine Protection of Swiftness and tried to catch up, but no matter how fast he ran he just couldn't catch up. God damnit! Is there not some better Divine Protection of Swiftness or something? What the fuck, I thought I was supposed to be Reinhard?!
Subaru lengthened his strides—c'mon, Reinhard's body, don't fail me now!—and promptly ran headfirst into a slab of solid muscle.
"—Reinhard?" gasped out Wilhelm, sprawled out on the ground.
"Wilhelm!" Subaru yelped, scrambling off of Wilhelm and dusting off Reinhard's fancy knight uniform. Yes! He can help! And— Subaru spun around, Felis in Julius' body is here too!
"Did you guys see any Ninth Tail members?" Subaru blurted, helping Wilhelm up absently. "They snatched—uh, they kidnapped Subaru while I was looking away."
Felis squinted at Subaru. Subaru's dislike of Julius instantly reared its head. Unbeknownst to him, Felis too found himself suddenly found himself resisting the urge to banged.
"I was looking away for good reasons," Subaru clarified, trying not to sound petulant.
Felis sighed. He'd judge, but he had no room to. "Ju—Felis was kidnapped as well."
Subaru straightened. "Shit!"
Wilhelm cleared his throat, having grown fed up with all this. Subaru and Felis both turned to him. "Have you four somehow swapped consciousnesses?" Wilhelm asked politely.
Subaru and Felis exchanged glances. "Yeah," both admitted at once.
Wilhelm sighed. "Alright," he said, massaging his temples. His old bones and old brain weren't meant for this. "Will this disrupt the rescue attempts?"
"No," Subaru and Felis chorused once more.
Felis took over. "Our, ah, muscle memory will suffice," he explained.
Wilhelm nodded, businesslike. "We'll stop dawdling, then." He turned and broke into a run, heading in the direction that the Ninth Tails Cultists had vanished to.
Without hesitation, Felis and Subaru followed.