The Melancholic Path

by Strandenstein

Subaru meets a particularly Melancholic Man during his last failed attempt to reach the mansion and decides to form a contract for their mutual benefit. However upon returning by death to the market with Rem, Subaru questions why he would even bother to save everyone after what they put him through.

9. Misplaced Belief

It was a morning like any other, not too warm nor too cold; the fauna of the forest just beginning to awaken from their slumber as they filled the damp air with their songs.

Two people walked across a patch of grass still fresh with the morning dew, one walked with empty hands while the other carried a third member of their party wrapped in blankets, illuminated by the soft blue hue of healing magic.

Ram barely moved and did not react whatsoever to the world around her as she was carried by Garfiel, a product of the immense pain she was enduring as well as the severe weakness brought on by the still untreated and mortal wounds afflicting her.

Garfiel both carried and healed her as he walked, his face consumed exclusively by immense worry, his eyes fixed on her as her body struggled with each breath she took. He may have bestowed himself with the title The Shield of Sanctuary and carried himself with the demeanor of a ruthless warrior, but when someone he was close to was on the verge of death his young age shone through and he had to fight just to hold it together. Perhaps the only reason he was not more erratic due to the situation was the result of his nightshift as Ram's healer, leaving him exhausted and with dark circles around his eyes.

Rem led the group as they approached the ground dragon, surrounded by an aura of steeled determination, her beloved sister was relying on her and so she would do everything Ram needed. It tore her apart to see her sister in the state that she was in, it pained her, hurt her, it enraged her.

Her heart was a flaming swirl of emotion, on one hand was the heartthrob for her sister, on another was the guilt that it should be her in Ram's place. Ram was perfect and had not done a single thing in her life to deserve a fate as cruel as this, on the other hand Rem was one of the worst things to ever happen to her sister. If Rem had never existed then Ram undoubtedly would have lived a better life, but Rem did exist, and once she had even felt joy at her sister's misfortune, and she would never forgive herself for that single moment of feeling.

Then there was a burning hatred that was juxtaposed somewhere between the heartthrob and guilt, Rem's hatred for the half-devil that had brought this misfortune to her sister, brought misfortune to all of them. If they had never met Emilia then everyone would still be in the mansion, still living a content and enjoyable life. Ram would not have had to suffer; Ram would not have to consumed by such pain.

In Rem's eyes Emilia was a terror, a scourge sent unto this earth, she was truly the worst of the worst of the worst, she was truly fitting in that respect to the witch that people thought of when they saw her.

Immediately after Rem clambered onto the ground dragon, she twisted her body so that Garfiel could pass Ram to her.

Although they both did their utmost to be as gentle and smooth as possible as they moved her like this, they both felt their hearts get wretched from their chests when Ram's breathing suddenly began to worsen, seemingly catching in her throat for a few seconds as the blankets above her wounds began to have a faint crimson seep into them.

Thankfully this stopped not long after they had finished passing her between them, the weak rasps that had become the new normal for her returning to offer a painful relief to those around her.

Rem made sure that Ram was secured in her arms as she replaced Garfiel's healing magic with her own, letting the tiniest of smiles creep onto her face when she noticed how Ram's breathing got the tiniest bit more relaxed as she was basked in the soothing light of the water magic.

When the unique and abrasive tone of Garfiel reached her ears, she did not look away from her sister, but she devoted some of her attention to the boy nonetheless.

"Ram'll be okay right? Even myself knows th't 'ven if she looks so delicate and 'll th't Ram's one of the toughest there is. She's the warrior who remains prideful even when Liesel calls, but seeing her like this, can't help but lead anyone to think anything but the worst…."

Although Rem was not looking at Garfiel as he spoke she could tell that he was on edge, ready to break solely by the way his voice was inflecting and the way his tone was changing. He was trying his best to stay strong but it was more like he was trying to keep a cart from careening off a path, with every passing second the emotions he was trying to hold in got closer and closer to spilling out.

Rem did not want to comfort him in the slightest, she did not hate him or anything, just she wanted to focus entirely on her sister, but unlike her Ram was kind, Ram would have found the words to calm him down, that is one of the many traits that made Ram so great in Rem's eyes.

So in order to do what her sister would do Rem decided to give a few words to calm the boy that she'd known for so many years, however she would not say a single lie, she would simply say words that she believed with every fiber of her being.

She spoke in as gentle a voice as she could manage even if she did not look away from her sister in order to face who she was talking to.

"Rem believes in Nee-sama, she's the strongest person that Rem has ever met, and with Roswaal-sama concocting a plan there is no way that Nee-sama won't be completely fine. All Rem has to do is follow Roswaal-sama's instructions and give Nee-sama the little bit of help she needs to get back to the mansion and receive treatment from Beatrice-sama. So Nee-sama will be completely fine, in fact Rem is more concerned that she won't be able to pamper Nee-sama enough while she is resting!"

But Rem did not have the chance to witness the effectiveness of her attempt to do what Ram would have, because the second that she finished talking a massive wall of air slammed into her as the ground shook with such ferocity that it made her ground dragon stagger.

Out of the corner of her eye Rem saw some of the more shakily constructed houses in the village collapse as villagers came out of their homes in a stunned stupor.

But now was not the time for Rem to be sitting around gawking at the chaos unfolding in the village around her, that disruption, that shockwave from an attack powerful enough to rumble the earth was almost certainly the product of a great battle, the great battle between Roswaal and the White Whale. Now was the ideal and most opportune time for Rem to begin her journey to reach the mansion, the journey that was meant to save her sisters life.

Garfiel obviously knew this as well as he stepped back from the dragon, giving it space as it rocked forth from a standstill away from the village and into the Kremaldy forest.

"Bring her there safe Rem, my amazin' self is rooting for ya!" Garfiel hollered as he watched the departing ground dragon, clearly in higher spirits compared to just a mere moment ago.

Rem rode the ground dragon without being able to really hold onto the reins, her hands were dedicated to other tasks meaning that the most she could do is rap the reins around one of her arms and try to use the grip produced by her legs to keep her place atop the animal as it moved at a blistering speed.

One of her arms was completely devoted to cradling the crippled body of her sister, the other was applying the healing magic that served as the lifeblood for Ram while also providing a minor amount of direction to the ground dragon through the reins wrapped around it.

All along their ground dragon ran the fauna of the forest, from the smallest insects up to larger four-legged beasts, everything was trying to flee the massive battle that had broken out on the opposite edge of the forest.

Rem looked down and listened to Ram's weak and rasping breathing as she lay there wrapped in the bundle supported by Rem's arm. It was a sight that would have broken the hearts of many, and it wrench Rem's as well, but it filled Rem with determination as she saw her sister fighting, fighting to keep going, it reminded Rem of how strong her sister was, how much stronger she was then anyone else Rem knew.

Rem remembered the sight clearly, when their village was getting attacked and put to the sword by the Witch's Cult.

All the adults in her village were doing the best they could to fight off the cultists, but their best was nowhere near enough. But Ram, even when she was only a child was able to slaughter the cultists, but this is back when Rem had hated her for her strength, despised her for it.

Ram was so much better than her at everything, there was no reason for Rem to even exist, her sole achievement up to that point had been stealing one of Ram's horns from her.

But in that moment Ram had put everything she had on the line to protect Rem, but even after doing that Rem had felt joy swell up inside her when she saw that blade swing down, swing down as it made contact and took away the sole horn Ram had.

The joy had lasted only for an instant however, when it was replaced by an immense and crippling guilt. Rem had felt joy at the sight of her sister losing something so great, losing it while defending Rem, losing the only horn she had after Rem had stolen the other one at birth.

And ever since then Rem has been trying to redeem herself for that guilt, even if Ram did not seem to care all that much about it, even if she would probably forgive Rem if she asked it did not matter.

It did not matter because Rem could never forgive herself.

Rem suddenly had to clamp down hard with her legs in order to avoid falling of the ground dragon as another shockwave slammed into her back, sending such a shake through the ground that it was hard to remain atop the ground dragon.

But only then did Rem come to a realization, it was not due to the odd colour and distortion of the sky, instead it was a realization that they were no longer running alongside other wildlife, instead they were running alone.

Then it was like time itself slowed, and Rem could only watch in horror as the very ground beneath the feet of the ground dragon dematerialized into nothing.

For a brief moment they were suspended in air before they began to plummet down into a deep dark pit.

Rem had to stop healing Ram as she flattened her body against the ground dragon and using her now free arm to grip the harness, using her body and other arm to pin Ram in place between her and the dragon.

She might have been able to jump from the dragon with Ram in her arms, but she could not guarantee that she would clear the hole due to having to jump from a falling and unsteady platform with the added weight of Ram.

But she had to focus to keep her sister safe as the ground dragon twisted its body and thrashed erratically, its clawed appendages smacking into the rock walls of the hole only to slide off their slick and smooth surface.

The ground dragon let out a series of violent and fear wrought shrieks after realizing it could not gain a purchase on the wall before striking the wall so violently that Rem and Ram were thrown from its back.

Rem wrapped her arms and legs around her sister as they fell, she managed to maneuver the two of them so that her body was below Ram's, meaning that she should be between her and the ground.

She was not a moment too soon in doing this as only a few seconds past between this maneuver and the impact with the cold stone that made up the bottom of the pit.

Rem felt herself slam into the cold hard stone of the ground, the back of her left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact while the entirety of her back taking the rest of it. She felt the force of the impact travel through her shoulder, she felt as her clavicle snapped and imbedded itself inside her shoulder joint, tearing and immobilizing her entire left arm.

Pain spread and shot out from her shoulder and moved throughout her entire body, doing its best to try and keep her down and force her to rest, screaming at her to stop moving, to stop fighting.

But it was the sound that came from Ram that stirred her to action, it was a horrid sucking sound as blood leaked from Ram's mouth and dripped onto Rem, blood that was pooling inside her and threatening to drown her.

Rem forced herself up, forced herself to stand, forced herself to fight through the pain to save Ram.

She did her best to get while using her sole usable arm to gently reposition Ram so that she was laying on her back with Rem kneeling beside her.

Rem pushed mana out of her right hand in the form of a soft and gentle blue glow, healing magic; and a broken smile graced its way across her face, her eyes grew glassy as she watched Ram's body relax in a slight and barely noticeable manner.

Ram was not in a good state, even though she had been cushioned by Rem the fall had still done a number on her. It was taking every bit of skill and every iota of mana that Rem had to keep the very blood that kept Ram alive inside her; the sheets that she was wrapped in had quickly become heavy with a deep dark red slick that leaked from Ram's body.

With Ram being stabilized Rem took a moment to take in and process the situation they were in and what potential options they had.

By looking up Rem could see where the stone ceiling had collapsed, resulting in the dirt that it was supporting giving way to nothing, leading to them falling like they did.

Rem could probably make them jump if she was on her own, but since she would have to carry Ram with her she would certainly need to jump off the wall at least once in order to make it, but as had been seen with the ground dragon the walls were so slick that she would probably fall if she tried, and at this point it was almost certain that Ram would not survive another fall.

Rem looked around the bottom of what seemed to be the pit that they were in, and that's when she learned that it was not in fact a pit, but the end of a cave.

On her left Rem could see what was the passage that connected this part of the cave to what is likely the rest of the cave system, except it was blocked by a massive pile of heavy rocks, some of them so large that they were nearly as tall as Rem was.

Looking to her right Rem saw where the ground dragon had landed, and why it had gone so silent even after it had been so panic stricken as it fell. While its violent twisting had thrown the two Oni sisters in one direction, it had ended up travelling in the opposite direction, and been vastly worse off for it.

It had been met on landing by a patch of stalagmites, their pointed ends being a far sight from the bed of flowers that the ground dragon had probably wished for. Several large shafts of stone had sundered the dragons rib cage and abdomen, coating themselves in blood as they punctured and tore their way through flesh.

However they were not especially sharp and as a result they dealt the damage they did mostly due to the weight of the ground dragon itself, however this also meant that a lot of the damage was due to the stones 'pushing' and not 'cutting' thanks to it not being particularly sharp nor having a particularly defined point.

This led to a scenario where most of the grounds dragons insides had been mashed before being jammed out of the stalagmites exit wounds, leading to what should have been an immensely painful yet slow death.

However the ground dragon had been granted a single mercy in the whole situation it was unwillingly led into, a single stalagmite had struck it in the throat, piercing through and shattering its spinal cord just below the skull, killing it instantly.

Rem's gaze then returned to her sister Ram as she just watched her for a few moments.

She watched as Ram's face contorted in pain as her chest struggled to rise in order to take a breath in.

She heard the painful sound of suction due to the blood pooled in her lungs.

She witnessed her own vision blur as tears began to obstruct her eyes, as her face began to grow hot, as muscles tensed in her face, as she began to cry.

She could not take it any longer, she could not take seeing her beloved sister in such a state, seeing her suffering so badly when she did not deserve it in the slightest.

First and foremost it was the fault of the half-devil that seemingly poisoned the lives of everyone around her, but in a way it was also Rem's fault.

Rem could have driven the carriage better, she could have been faster and avoided the whales attack that had sent them flying.

And to carry this train of thought to its complete and most polarized potential ending, Rem thought about how if she had never been born then Ram would have had another horn and would have had her Oni form to allow her to better handle the whale's attack.

Rem wanted to bury her head into her sisters clothing, to cry her heart out and feel Ram's hand run through her hair, but she could not do that, she did not want to hurt her sister anymore then she already had, and it seemed unlikely Ram would even be able to react at all to such a move on Rem's part.

She looked straight up as tears streamed down from her eyes, looking up into the column of light that streamed down through the opening, and in that moment she knew what she had to do.

Rem would never leave her sister, and so if she could not leave with her then she would stay with her, she would put everything she had into ensuring that Ram would survive until rescue came.

Once Roswaal was finished with the whale he would certainly return to the mansion, and once he realized that they had not managed to make it then Rem could only hope that he would find them here.

And it was from this thought that Rem knuckled down and poured every ounce of mana she had into her sister, not even using the tiniest bit to repair her ruined shoulder.

Even as she felt herself grow more and more tired, as sweat began to drip from her face, as the sun fell and rose, she continued.

But as the sun began to reach its zenith on the second day her head began to grow woozy and vision blurry, her mana reserves were falling to dangerously low levels.

If Rem ran out of mana it would not only be potentially threatening to her own well being, but it would put the final nail in Ram's coffin, severing the flow of healing magic to Ram would be the same as severing the thin string that had become her life.

Rem was extremely tired, so exhausted that it was making it hard to think, but she had to rack her brain in order to find a way to get more mana, to keep Ram going until Roswaal found them.

And then a memory from her early days in the mansion came to her, a memory form one of the first lectures on magic theory Roswaal had given to her and her sister.

Oni's were renowned for their skill with magic, and backing this reputation was a very applicable and practical education given to the children of the village by their parents, spells and techniques passed from generation to generation, but this was application focused and not theory.

Because of this Roswaal had made the focus of some of the earliest lessons he gave to the two on theory, rounding out their knowledge so they could understand why some things happened, and why they had been taught to do things the way they did.

The Oni horn had a topic of one of these lectures, he had explained why Rem would feel so much stronger when she summoned her horn, and why Ram could still use her Oni power for brief periods even though she no longer had a horn.

Roswaal had told them that the horn itself does not provide any strength whatsoever, but what it does do is vastly increase the rate that mana was absorbed into the body, significantly dwarfing the amount that was ambiently absorbed by the rest of the body.

An Oni that summoned their horn had access to effectively infinite mana as long as there was enough in the environment itself. Seeing as they were trapped in a pit without any living things there was almost certainly a vast amount of mana pooled here, even if it would not be replenished beyond the tiniest trickle, it would offer them a fair bit more time then just the mana Rem carried in her body.

And it was with the recollection of that memory that another hue joined the soft blue that illuminated the pit, a harsh pink spread across the cold stone as a horn emerged from Rem's forehead, a horn that quickly began to lap up all the mana that it could from Rem's surrounds. It was this mana that provided new fuel to the magic that kept Ram alive.

And it was this magic that Rem continued to cast as the days rolled by.

Day after day she kept at it.

Even as she could no longer keep track of the time.

Even as she could no longer remember how long she had been in the pit.

Even as she grew so exhausted that her whole body became drenched in sweat.

Even as she grew so exhausted that she could no longer sense how much mana was around her.

She continued to cast the magic that kept her sister alive.

Until after so many days rolled past that their situation changed once more.

In the near angelic moonlight that illuminated the two sisters at the base of the pit, in the apex of the night, long after Rem had lost count of how many days had gone by she realized something once again.

There was no longer any mana in this pit to draw into healing her sister.

It was a morbid situation for nearly anyone to be in, a situation that would force anyone into a horrid decision, whether to abandon someone they loved so much.

But a decision like this was not a hard one for someone like Rem, someone who loved Ram more then anything in the world, even themselves.

Rem was extremely weak at this point, having no food, water, nor rest, all the while casting a healing spell constantly for many days.

She could barely find the strength speak, but she managed to because there was still something that she felt that she had to say.

It hurt her to say what she did, not because of what it would mean she would lose, but instead what it would mean she would miss.

She looked at Ram's closed eyes with her glassy ones, watching how weakly her sister was now breathing after having survived so long off nothing but healing magic.

Rem leaned in closer so her tired and quiet voice would reach her sister with the hope that Ram could hear and take in what she had to say.

"For Rem's whole life you've taken care of and looked after her Nee-sama, you've made Rem feel so happy even when she hated and despised herself. You were Rem's whole world, both when it was just us, and even after we met Roswaal-sama and Subaru-kun. You've always been so amazing with how strong and kind you are, you've been such an amazing role model to Rem, she could only hope that she could live up to your greatness. And its because of this that Rem knows that you'll make it through this, that Roswaal-sama will come take you back to the mansion and that you'll be healed back to tip top shape, you just need Rem to give you a little more time."

Rem paused for a moment as a few tears ran out of her eyes, tears that held some of the last water in her body.

"This is selfish for Rem to ask, but please don't forget about Rem, she may have been a terrible person, a horror guilty of sins that should not be forgiven. But please find it in your generous heart Nee-sama to remember Rem as you go on to live a long and happy life, Rem knows that she will never forget Nee-sama, even if she can't remember anything in whatever comes after this world she will find it in herself to carve Nee-sama into her very soul."

A faint and gentle smile then found its way across Rem's face as she reached inside herself and grasped her od.

The smile remained on her face as she felt a fiery warmth spread through her as her od was unwound into mana, mana which found its way through her right arm into Ram in the form of healing magic.

Mana which fueled a blue glow.

A blue glow which gradually grew fainter and fainter.

A blue glow which was barely visible whatsoever after but a handful of moments.

A blue glow which faded to nothing as Rem collapsed to the cold stone floor alongside Ram.

She lay alongside Ram as her eyes, devoid of any signs of life looked upon her sister.

Eyes that were overjoyed to have Ram as their last sight, a feeling shown by the weak smile that remined plastered across her cold and lifeless face.

A feeling that seemed to stick with Ram as her chest continued to rise and fall with each breath, rise and fall as the sucking sound caused by the blood pooling inside her grew worse.

A sound that grew worse until it started to grow fainter, grow fainter as each breath grew shallower and shallower.

Grew shallower and shallower until a peaceful calm and stillness settled over the pit that they had spent an unknown number of days in.

A calm and stillness that remained as clouds obscured the moon so that the twin Oni sisters could have the darkness necessary to begin their eternal slumber, leaving the world just as they had entered it, together.

---

The sky was a beautiful kaleidoscopic mixture of crimson and orange as the sun fell from its zenith as the day began to draw to a close; a gentle wind blue a handful of leaves in front of Emilia as she stood in front of the cabin she had fallen asleep in, watching and listening to two people conversing.

One was a man with black hair that was kept close to his head, his face adorned by a pair of mean looking eyes as he did his best to comfort the woman he sat beside, for reasons unknown to Emilia she felt a sense of familiarity as she looked at the man, like she had met him somewhere before.

Emilia however did not feel this way about the woman, she did not look familiar to her in any manner, neither her black and green butterfly shaped hair clip, nor her long white hair caused any recollection within Emilia's memory.

The woman was sitting in such a way so that she was facing away from the man as he looked upon her with a face full of pity and anguish, an expression that she was unable to see. Meanwhile the man could not see how her face was contorted due to an emotional pain, biting her lip as she tried to keep everything inside.

Emilia felt a sense of bewilderment as she looked upon the scene before her, she felt out of place to a certain extent, not just because she was eavesdropping but also because she felt that she had fallen into the middle of everything, like these two had been interacting before she had arrived.

"It's completely normal to feel this way after your forced to do something like what you did to someone you cared about, and the healthy thing is to let those emotions out, process them so you can slowly move past the events that caused them, not bottle them up."

The mans spoke in a tone that fringed upon being gentle as he tried to comfort the woman but he made no effort to reduce the physical distance that separated them as they sat on the front porch of the cabin. Although he may speak as if they knew each other it was clear that the relationship between the two was not one where physical contact would be considered normal.

The woman took a second to respond, continuing to bite her lip before starting to speak, and when she spoke it was in a voice that was almost neutral but with the slightest undertone of instability.

"It may be normal for a human, but I'm not human, I'm a witch. The Witch of Greed, an eldritch abomination beyond the comprehension of regular humans; I don't feel emotions, I manipulate people to sate my own curiosity, something I have done since I became a witch upon by birth, something I'm surprised you don't understand Flügel."

That name rang through Emilia's head, it echoed, it was familiar, she'd heard it before and where she heard it felt like it was on the tip of her tongue, but she just could not take the last step to connect the dots and recall where she heard it.

"Just because you inherited the greed witch factor mere moments after your birth does not mean that you were not born initially as a human. Do not attempt to use that argument to try and sweep the emotions brewing up within you under the rug. And using the label 'Eldritch Abomination' is a disservice to both yourself and your fellow witches that you once called your friends. You know better then I that there was more to Minerva then just her anger, that she could find love in this world. There's more to Pandora then just her vanity, she's probably one of the most dedicated and hardworking people you and I have ever met."

The man that the woman called "Flügel" said this with a tone like he was lecturing the woman, the manner of his speech slowly shifting from what would act as an emotional shoulder so to say, to what could be considered as a speech of emotionally fuel rhetoric.

"Of course you would bring her name up, Pandora, your favourite student, and she would be your ideal student if she was actually capable of learning a single thing even after all the effort she would put in. One could say that she only puts in the effort to seem like a good student, while her inability to learn is a reflection of her true self, which is in itself the definition of vanity."

While the woman's voice grew more and more devoid of emotion, Flügel's slowly started to grow more incensed as he listened to the woman's rhetoric.

"That's the most cop out answer of all, if you only look for ways to prove what you believe then you will obviously find it Echidna!"

But it seemed like either this was Echidna's goal, or that she simply did not care.

"It's rich for you to think that you understand the witches of sin better then one of their own, even for you Flügel."

As her words seemed to hit Flügel in a way that hurt, the two continued to argue, neither side seemed willing to budge.

"So if you are so correct then why did Sekhmet go out of her way to provide guidance to Typhon, was that sloth? How about Minerva falling in love and having a child, where is the wrath in that?"

Echidna then turned to face Flügel for the first time in this conversation that Emilia had witnessed, but the expression on her face was one that was hard to describe. Although her face was almost blank, her eyes were wide open such that she gave off an eery expression.

"Then if the witch factors don't affect ones personality then why did Satella choose to destroy part of the world….."

After these words were spoken Flügel fell silent, looking down at the dirt as seemingly all joy left his being.

But it was at this moment that Emilia's vision began to distort, a rippling effect appearing around the edges of what she saw. The world briefly grew grey as everything began to zip by at a speed that was neigh impossible for her to keep up with.

But just as this incomprehensible phenomenon began, it ended; colour returned to Emilia's vision as time reapproached what one could consider a normal rate.

However all had not returned to normal, when she looked down she saw that the ground was moving underneath her feet, like it was water flowing beneath her. However oddly enough her mind did not see this as something weird nor out of place.

When she looked up from the ground she saw Echidna and Flügel walking down a path side by side, this occurring evidently later in the day as the sun appeared to be dipping below the horizon as night began to fall.

"Wanting to show me something, don't tell me…. Your research into eternal life has come to fruition?"

Flügel look towards Echidna with shock and surprise, his mouth almost agape, but she did not look back at him as she spoke.

"To say it bore fruition would not be incorrect, but to say it was entirely successful would not be correct."

Echidna had a look on her face that was a combination of regret and disappointment, an odd way to feel about solving one of the greatest mysteries of their world.

"So that means that you've finally solved the issue with how to make a soul foreign to the vessel compatible? I must say that as your teacher it fills me with pride to hear how my former student has so thoroughly surpassed me, even if such a thing was already certain from the first time we met."

Flügel was puffing out his chest in pride as he seemingly chose to selectively ignore or overlook a portion of what Echidna had said, and she made a point to quickly correct his mistake.

"The idea of soul transcription for such a task is fundamentally flawed, a body is only innately compatible with the soul its meant to carry, there must be at least some similarities between the souls for it to work. What I was referencing when I spoke before was using a combination of yang and yin to achieve stasis, suspended animation. I doubt I need to explain the specifics to someone so well versed in those fields as you, Flügel."

And her words were obviously true for the look of pride quickly peeled off Flügel's face to be replaced with one of disgust that was seemingly directed at the idea she spoke of.

However before Flügel had the chance to talk they both found themselves at the end of the path as it opened up into a town with a large stone building that seemingly resembled a church at the end of it.

The villagers were seemingly beginning to file home for the day as darkness slowly began to cover the surroundings. Occasionally one would look over but quickly make themselves scarce when they saw the looks on the faces of the two as Flügel followed Echidna towards the stone structure.

As Echidna was walking up the stone steps leading to the front of the structure Flügel stopped at the bottom and began to speak, or more correctly lecture her on his view of what she was intending to do.

"So you intend to just abandon Beatrice and Roswaal then, after all the time you've spent together with them, after all that they've done for you. Don't you realize that you'll destroy them, break them if you do such a thing? Beatrice see's you as her mother, while Roswaal is still just a boy that is so infatuated with you that he would gladly die if you just asked him. You don't feel even the slightest bit of pain or remorse in any of this?"

Flügel was growing more and more incensed with every word he spoke, anger built up behind his voice as he struggled to accept that his former student would do such a thing to those that he had been so convinced that she had cared about.

"Beatrice and Roswaal have been provided with a version of the truth, they believe that what I intend to do is absolutely necessary, that it is a result of the strain put on my body when I banished Hector's soul. Roswaal seems determined to bring me back to this world, and while there is a mechanism for him to do so I don't see it being something that he can achieve simply due to how his mind works. Beatrice accepted the task of guarding the library I built with what I had learned over the years, she like Roswaal have both been provided with a tome to provide them with guidance when I see fit to give it to them."

While Echidna spoke she made sure to hide her face from her enraged former teacher who still stood at the base of the stairs, doing her best to ensure that her voice remained as neutral as possible, ensuring that any emotion inside her would not rise up and erode her resolve.

"So in the end you force yourself to appear as a monster in order to prove to me that you were always one, you've gone to such unnecessary lengths in order to deny the truth… Tell me this Echidna, what would you do if I simply annihilated this algorithm and tomb of yours the second you activated the spell, what would you do if I decided to deliver one final lesson to you?"

Flügel's voice began to grow low, descending into a growl as the world began to grow darker around them. Shadows began to pool at his feet as they wafted up to reach around his body, cloaking him as the light from the stars in the sky was pulled down to him in long streaks, bending into glowing bands around his body.

"I wouldn't doubt that you could stop my plan in the slightest, you were capable of preventing Satella from reverting time backwards beyond more then a few seconds, compared to her authority my stasis spell must seem trivial….."

Flügel angrily interrupted her, beginning to walk up the steps as the area round them had become nearly pitch black, the only light coming from the bands around his arms.

As he began to ascend up the stairs he started to shout at her, "Yes it would be! I could undo the yin that kept your soul from your body and force you to wake up, or I could undo the yang that kept it anchored and let the Od Laguna mulch it to pieces! The choice is yours Echidna, if you see yourself so adamantly as a monster why not be put down like one, why not be treated like you treated your oh so dear Hector when you sent his soul to be destroyed?"

But Flügel seemingly struck a nerve for there was a brief flash of mana before he found himself face to face with the Witch of Greed, her stone cold facing staring right into his eyes after using teleportation magic to instantly reduce the distance between them to something nearing zero.

"Tell me Flügel, you do know that I could kill you with as little effort as it takes me to breath, you are still human after all. Your exceptional affinity for yang and yin, nor your ability to mask yourself from even my tomb of wisdom won't be useful in the slightest if I froze what's left of this world solid. In the end you are just a human, a slightly above average human who is just a bit too eccentric and arrogant for his own good. But you know what, it would be vastly more interesting to see how you reacted if I removed the enchantment on that key, watch as it materialized within its carrier and killed them, watched as all your planning unravelled in your face and fell apart. Watch as the Great Sage Flügel realized as his life up to this point had been wasted."

The eyes that he looked into were not a pair that reminded him of his student, they looked cold and dead, devoid of all that could be considered human. As the black iris burned holes through him he realized that Echidna was not bluffing, she would kill him if she felt the need to, and that was not something that he could allow, not yet atleast.

Faced with this situation Flügel backed down, his anger faded as his mana dissipated, hanging his head in shame as he took a step back, but he did not apologize for his actions.

Seeing this Echidna turned and began to walk back of the steps towards the open door of the tomb. Once she reached the top step and stood right before the door she stopped and turned half her face as if to see that Flügel's demeanor had not changed.

"I'll take this as us having come to an agreement that you won't interfere in my plans and I won't interfere in yours. I did not particularly want our goodbye to be like this but I will say that its been an interesting time. I would also say that I'm excited to see what you will be up to in the future from my Castle of Dreams but I don't doubt that you will continue to hide from my sight. It's been an experience Sensei, this is goodbye as I doubt we will ever meet again."

And with that Echidna entered the tomb as a soft blue light began to emanate from it briefly before disappearing, leaving Flügel in darkness as he continued to stand motionless halfway up the stairs.

It was then that the distortions to Emilia's vision returned as everything once again grew grey and rippled around the edges, objects beginning to dart around at incredible speed as time began to accelerate. However this time the irregularity lasted far longer then before, Emilia watched the stone of the tomb weather as moss slowly started to inch its way up the building, she watched the grass grow until everything slammed to a halt, the distortion and irregularities falling away as once again her vision returned to normal.

Now Emilia watched as a man she assumed was Flügel stood exactly where he had when her last bout of normal vision had ended, except this time there was something significantly more off about him.

He looked disheveled, his once neatly kept hair had grown long and was in complete disarray as if he no longer put in the effort to comb it. Streaks of grey ran through it, complimenting the mixture of grey and black scruff which now covered most of his face. But it was his eyes that stood out the most, the previous calm that was once there was there no longer, instead it was replaced by fervent fire of madness.

From what Emilia could see, Flügel appeared to have lost his mind.

As he walked up the steps of the tomb the world around him grew dark as shadows rose up to wrap around his body, like a semitransparent bedsheet with a hole cut for his head.

"Fear not my former student, I have not decided to break our agreement after so long, just I can no longer trust you to hold your own namesake."

Flügel did not say this like he took any joy in it, he sounded downtrodden and exhausted but there was still conviction in his voice like he was doing this because he felt like he must.

Mana continued to swirl around him as he approached the tomb, crude arms composed of shadows shooting forth from his body and flying towards the door.

Once the arms reached the door they grew so thin that they were able to fit between it and the edges of the opening before prying the door from its hinges and throwing it to the side, allowing Flügel to pass and enter the tomb.

Perhaps sensing the intrusion, perhaps due to some automatic mechanism, the tomb began to grow a violent blue as if it intended to deal with the intruder.

But a wave of mana rocketed out of Flügel's body in a giant pulse, causing the tomb to fall silent as the blue light dissipated.

Emilia then lost sight of Flügel as a billowing cloud of crude looking shadow spewed out of the door he had passed through, obscuring her view.

When Emilia tried to walk forward to follow this man that she felt strangely familiar with, she found that every step she took did not bring her any closer to the tomb, looking at her feet they seemed to just slide across the ground with each step she took, like they were moving across a sheet of ice.

But in the end it would not have mattered for a massive cloud of the same crude shadows blasted out of every opening in the tomb, and a few seconds later she saw Flügel stumbling out of the front door.

As he stumbled out of the staircase while still being cloaked in shadows Emilia could see that blood was running down from one of his hands, a hand that had a stump where one of his fingers should have been, in his other hand was a small black box that he clutched close to his chest.

Emilia watched as he stumbled for a few more steps before darting off into the forest, all the while villagers were beginning to stumble out of their homes with cries of "FIRE!" echoing between them.

But as Emilia began to watch the villagers as they ran towards the tomb only to stop dumbfounded as the smoke began to disappear into nothing, a massive shockwave travelled through the land.

However as Emilia found herself falling face first into the ground she noticed that everything around her seemed completely unaffected by it, the tree's did not even sway in the slightest.

She watched as the ground got closer and closer to her face, time felt like it slowed as she got closer and closer, her vision beginning to grow blurry before a ripple shot through it, and with this ripple the dirt in front of her face was replaced with wooden floorboards.

With a thunk and a dull pain beginning to spread through her forehead Emilia found herself on the floor beside her bed, the sheets still pristine and neatly made as she struggled to recall even one detail of what she just experienced.

She lay on the floor for the next few minutes as she tried to comprehend what she had just experienced, struggling and grasping at the fresh holes in her memory that removed her ability to understand her recent past.

But before she could understand what happened the light that streamed into the room suddenly changed as the sky outside distorted and twisted, and before she knew it another massive shockwave slammed into the building.

The walls shook around her as anything that was not fixed in place was sent careening into the air, Emilia tried to push herself to her feet but when she looked up she saw a painting hung on the wall come loose and fall straight towards her.

She was still drowsy from just waking up and as a result her reflexes were still slow and muddled, leading to her not being able to move out of the way of the falling painting.

The painting struck her right in the middle of the forehead with its heavy metal frame, causing Emilia to instinctively jerk her head downward as she felt pain radiate out from where the painting had struck her.

Emilia did not immediately try to get up after this, instead of raising her head back up she gradually curled herself into a ball and let herself lie on the floor of the room, tears began fill her eyes and flow out, joining the slight trickle of blood that left her forehead.

"I hate this so much… I don't know how much longer I can take it…. Do I really deserve this for being born a silver haired half-elf….."

Emilia stayed like this on the floor, unable to find the strength nor the will to get up, to keep putting one-foot in front of the other so that she could continue her journey. To her there was no longer a point to doing such a thing because it would not work out, it would just lead to her suffering more, facing more and more punishment.

She lost track of how long she stayed in this pit of self loathing, she did not keep track of how many hours had ticked by as tears trickled out of her eyes on the floor, but it had been long enough for the blood from her forehead to dry.

But eventually her self loathing was interrupted as something grabbed her attention and pulled her from her melancholy, but it was not some fairy tale like gesture of a prince who had ridden in to save her, instead it was something as mundane as the pain of an empty stomach.

Her hands moved to clutch her midsection as she debated whether to listen to the pain and loud noises demanding she stand up and get something to eat, or her heart telling her that there was no point in such a thing and that she should not even bother getting up.

This debate continued for a few moments before the hunger pangs eventually won out and Emilia slowly stood up, reaching to pickup the painting that had hit her in order to move it off the floor.

However as Emilia picked it up the contents caught her eye and she held it straight in front of her, noticing that it was not a painting of some scenery, but a portrait of four people.

There were 3 women sitting on an expensive looking couch with a man standing behind them, although there did seem to be an age difference among them it was not so great that this could be any form of family portrait, even if it did seem to be one from the demeanor of those involved.

On the far right of the portrait was a woman in a black dress with white hair and a green butterfly hairclip, she looked somewhat bored as she leaned on the arm rest and balanced her chin on the knuckles of one of her hands, her eyes looking somewhere far off into the distance.

The woman seated in the middle of the couch was hard to describe, someone had seemingly burned part of the painting where her face should have been, allowing Emilia to see nothing more then her clothing and some of her hair, but not a single detail about her face.

From what she could see this woman wore a dark dress similar to that of her companion beside her, however hers was of a looser fit as well as being adorned with streaks of golden trim, sharply contrasting with the deep black of the dress. What surprised Emilia however was the colour of the woman's hair, it was the same shade of silver as her own.

But when Emilia moved her eyes to the woman who was on the left side of the portrait she felt an unreasonable and immense hatred rise up within her. She did not have the slightest clue as to why she felt this way but it was like some deep recess of her mind was screaming out at her to kill this person, to skewer them with spears of ice until they bled to death, and then to keep going to make doubly sure that they were dead.

She had no idea why the sight of this woman who looked to be more like a young teenager then anything else made her so angry, the sight of her beaming smile made Emilia's hands clench so tight that her knuckles became completely white. Emilia felt like she wanted to throttle her when she saw her long platinum hair and crystal blue eyes.

Emilia's eyes were fixed on her as she hugged the woman beside her, the one with the blanked-out face, but eventually Emilia managed to shift her eyes away to the man who stood behind the couch, his face adorned with a proud smile as he stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Emilia felt strangely familiarity when she looked at him, she definitely knew him from somewhere, the feeling was too strong for him to just have been a random passerby, but no matter how hard she tried she just could not remember where she saw him.

Emilia's focus was draw away by the sound of knocking, someone was at the door.

Emilia placed the painting down on the night table beside the bed and walked towards the door to meet her unexpected visitor, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she did so.

As Emilia walked towards the door whoever was waiting for her was seemingly getting more and more irritated as they started knocking again, just louder and a bit more violently.

This continued until she eventually opened the door, revealing a very pissed off and irritated Garfiel standing outside with a brown burlap bag on the ground by his feet.

He glared at Emilia as the two stood face to face at the threshold of the house as Emilia shrank slightly in place, unable to stand up to the pressure he was exerting as a result of her mental state.

"Ol' Gran said my amazin' self would find y'here, like the merchant breaking fast in Bannan, finding you in the old witch's house, doesn't surpis' my amazin' self in the slightest that ya were let in."

Garfiel's tone was not particularly friendly and he more or less spat his words at Emilia, although his comparison of her to a witch definitely did not do wonders for how she felt at this point her heart was full of so many holes that another one made little difference.

She just looked at him with blank and empty eyes as she waited for him to continue, which he did after a brief pause as if he were debating his next action.

He lifted up the burlap sack which adopted a rather full teardrop shape and Emilia heard it rustle with grains as it stood suspended in the air from his outstretched hand.

He held it towards her as if offering it, but Emilia did not so eagerly reach out as to grab it for this seemingly kind gesture was in direct contrast to his demeanor which was still exuding immense hostility towards her.

"Gran told m'amazin' self ta bring this to ya, said we sho'ld treat ya like a guest 'n all, but if ya want this rice th'n yer gonna come and see all the destruction ya brought here t' us. Rem 'nd Roswaal told me all 'bout ya, I ain't lettin' ya off the hook for what you've done to them or us, my amazin' self'll keep Sanctuary safe from ya."

Garfiel continued growling at her as he held the bag out, the bag that Emilia did not particularly want to take if it just meant that she would be forced to feel even more miserable then she already was. However this thought was quickly driven from her head by her stomach loudly and painfully rumbling just as she was beginning to push the bag back towards Garfiel in order to decline it.

It was this painful and gnawing reminder of how long it had been since she had eaten anything that made her close her eyes as her face winced. She did not wince from the pain in her stomach, it was a wince as she knew that taking the bag would mean untying her boat from this metaphorical dock that was the log cabin and resuming her journey down the treacherous river that was the pain that lay ahead.

One may ask why Emilia knew that pain would await her if she did anything more then just wait in the house, and the only answer that they could be given is that she had experienced so much pain leading up to this point that she no longer had any reason to expect her future to be anything else.

Emilia placed the bag of rice just inside the door before closing it and beginning to follow Garfiel as they walked down a path through the forest in complete silence.

Almost immediately upon leaving the cabin however Emilia's nose was assaulted by an immense smell, it was harsh, acrid, and earthy, it was the smell of a forest on fire. It seemed to taint the very air to the point that she could not avoid it if she wished to breath, if she looked anywhere other then the ground she could not avoid the sight of it.

All around her she could see vast plumes of smoke, immense walls of it rise high into the sky as the entire forest seemed to be burning.

But she continued to follow Garfiel, eventually the trees on either side of this dirt path began to thin until everything seemingly opened up as they arrived back in Sanctuary proper, and it was only then that Garfiel stopped and began to speak.

"Look 'round Princess, see the sufferin' ya brought on us by comin' here….."

Garfeil's voice lacked the characteristic anger that Emilia had been hearing from him up to this point, instead it was laced with an almost destitute sadness and unfathomable amount of regret. When he called her 'Princess' he did so not out of some sense of respect, but instead he emphasized the title to make it an insult, Emilia was as useless and removed from reality like a pampered princess in his eyes.

As Emilia looked around she could not help but feel anything other than guilty, the sight of stunned villagers standing in front of their collapsed homes, some wrapped in bandages that were soaked in blood, others kneeling on the ground crying, faces buried in hands.

"Is there anything I can do to help, I can hea….." Emilia spoke meekly as she almost offered to help heal the villagers with her spirit arts, but then she remembered how she had tried to help the knight back in the capital, and how he had died as a result of her failures.

It was this thought that made her stop midway through, resulting in an awkward silence, a silence that Garfiel broke before he began to walk away from her with a slow pace seemingly now devoid of energy. It seemed like the energy and anger he had built up before had all fallen away when he was forced to face the sight of the ruins of his hometown, being replaced by melancholy.

"You've done 'nough Princess, Gran wants ta talk with ya, meet us on the steps of the tomb over th're, and if I can find him my amazin self'll br'ng Roswaal ov'r there too."

Garfiel pointed towards a large stone building that stood on the edge of town, before he walked off into the chaos that still enveloped Sanctuary, leaving Emilia to walk to the meeting place alone.

She walked through the dirt streets of the village, having to step over chunks of stone from collapsed walls or logs from the buildings that were of wooden construction instead. She kept her eyes low as she stared at the ground so that she would not make eye contact with any of the villagers she passed, she could not bring herself to see anyone else suffering because of her at this point.

But when she rounded the last corner that would put her on the short and straight path to the tomb she ended up in a situation that would have shattered her heart if it was not already broken beyond repair.

Emilia heard the voice of a young child up ahead, alongside what she assumed was the sobbing voice of the child's mother, a situation that managed to make Emilia look up before she froze in place, wishing she had not removed her eyes from the ground.

"Mama what happened to Shou, why isn't he moving?"

The voice of the little girl was curious, inquisitive as she tugged on her mother's clothes asking why her little brother was still in the mother's arms.

This little girl looked significantly younger than the children she had seen in Arlam village, she probably was not much older then 4 years old at the very most.

The mother was knelt on the ground rocking in place as she clutched the child in her arms tightly to her chest, when she finally managed to choke out a few words while barely managing to not break down, doing her absolute best to hold herself together in front of her other child that was still breathing.

"Lena….. Shou's gone to another place, a better place…"

Emilia could see the red-hot tears pouring from the mother's eyes as she choked out her words, trying to explain the concept of death to a child too young to understand.

"What do you mean another place, he's right here Mama he hasn't gone anywhere?"

Lena tilted her head as she looked at her mother before trying to peer at her brother in her mother's arms, but the second Lena tried to do this she found her vision swiftly blocked by her mother turning her body, hiding the body of little Shou from his older sister.

"Why are you hiding him Mama, I wanna see Shou, you said he's gone but he's right here, I wanna see him to make sure he isn't gone!"

The little girl tried once again to look at her brother but stopped as soon as she realized her mother was looking off at a stranger, looking at Emilia.

Lena quickly scurried behind her mother to hide from the stranger as her mother clenched her teeth at Emilia and shouted in a voice full of anger and sorrow.

"YOU, WHY'D YOU HAVE TO BRING THIS ON US, WHY'D MY LITTLE SHOUREI HAVE TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS! HE WAS SUCH A HAPPY LITTLE BOY, ONLY 2 YEARS OLD AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!"

The mother then thrust the body of the little boy towards Emilia so that she could see what happened to him, so that Emilia could see how black and blue the boys head was, so that she could see that the entire right side of Shourei's head had been pushed in by a falling stone. The mother held out the little boy so Emilia could see how she was the reason that an innocent toddler had been killed.

"No I didn't…. I'm sorry….I didn't mean too…..I…I"

Emilia sputtered this as she backstepped away from the mother, her eyes wide opened in horror as she could not remove them from the corpse of the little boy hanging limply in the wind from the mothers outstretched arms.

"I…..I….I…I….."

Emilia could not get anymore words out, but the mother had heard enough to scream at her once more.

"I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I, THAT'S ALL I HEAR FROM YOU, YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT YOURSELF, YOU COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE PEOPLE CAUGHT UP IN YOUR PATH OF DESTRUCTION, ITS JUST WHO YOU ARE!"

Emilia's vision began to blur as her eyes began to fill once again with tears as she learned more and more about the monster that she truly was.

She was useless.

She was helpless.

She hurt people.

She killed people.

And throughout it all she had only cared about herself, only focused on how sad everything that had happened made her.

She was self-centred and so very selfish.

At this point Emilia could not take anymore and so she turned and ran, sprinted as fast as she could away from the mother, away from everyone in the village, and towards the tomb that the villagers seemed to avoid.

However as Emilia reached the base of the stairs a blue light violently blasted out of every opening in the tomb as someone staggered out.

Natsuki Subaru began to stagger down the front steps of the tomb, right towards Emilia.

However he did not look one bit like Emilia remember him from when they had last seen each other, a period of time that felt like an eternity, yet it was a period of time that was more aptly measured in days rather then years.

He still had the jarring physical changes that she had caught a glimpse of back in the capitol, one of his eyes was still a different colour, his hair was still down rather then up, and he still wore clothes that did not fit the demeanor of the old Subaru whatsoever.

But even compared to then something was wrong, it did not seem to be physical even though he was completely covered in what looked like blood; something looked to be mentally wrong with Natsuki Subaru.

He stumbled down the steps of the tomb with both hands clasped tightly to the sides of his head as massive streams of water poured from his eyes, the whole time his mouth moving rapidly as he muttered something to himself over and over again.

However as he stumbled down towards her with his entire body quivering with each step it was like he was oblivious to the world around him, like he could not see even though his eyes were wide open.

And before Emilia knew it she found herself face to face with him as he walked right into her, causing them both to fall backwards down the stairs that led up to the entrance of the tomb.

His face was separated from hers by nothing but the smallest gap, she was too shocked to move, she could not think of what she should do in this situation, but what scared her was his eyes, seeing them rapidly dart all over the place seemingly at random.

And it was then when she heard what he was saying.

"I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom I'm sorry mom. I'll do better, I promise. Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad Don't hate me dad. I can still fix everything, there's still a chance for me to become a good son, right?"

Subaru then pushed himself back up and away from Emilia as he stumbled into the town, like he had never seen her to begin with, leaving her frozen on the ground to come to another realization.

"Subaru had a family, a home where he came from….. he got separated from them and I ruined his life… they're never going to get their Subaru back because I broke him and the old happy Subaru will never get his family back either…"

She mumbled her thoughts aloud, maybe she secretly hoped that someone would hear her and just maybe tell her that she was wrong. Maybe she wanted someone to shout at her, to punish her for them so that she could feel like she paid her penance, or maybe there was not reason for her actions whatsoever.

Emilia pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the step with her knee's pulled close to her chest, her face buried in said knees. She stayed like this as she stirred in a depression even deeper then before, only moving her head to look up with her tired and tear stained eyes when she heard people approaching her, Garfiel and a pink haired half-elf.

While Garfiel appeared even more pissed of and even anxious then Emilia had ever seen him in the incredibly short time that they had known each other, however she could not get a read on the short half-elf walking beside him.

She wore what looked to be a slightly oversized robe, the collar of which rose up to cover the lower half of her face, leaving nothing but the upper half exposed. It was because of this that Emilia could not get a read on if she was feeling similar to Garfiel, if she should expect her to be hostile or not.

Emilia should have been shocked at the very least and even possibly elated at the sight of someone the same as her, never before had she met another half-elf. Emilia would have felt this way if everything had been normal, if she hadn't been drowning in guilt and self hatred like she was right now.

"Now this is lik' findin' Reid among the dragon corpses if my amazin' self ever saw it, looks like the witch, acts like a witch, lives where a witch did, and now waits where the witch wa…"

Emilia heard Garfiel's unique way of speaking that carried words that were obviously directed at her, but the pink haired half-elf walking beside him cut him off, and to Emilia's surprise he only protested half heartedly.

"Gar-bo, to say things with the intent of only hurting another is not the way I want to see you act. Emilia-sama has not done anything to warrant such hostility from you."

The pink haired half-elf spoke in a voice that sounded far older than what suited her appearance, speaking slowly and deliberately as her voice cracked with age.

"You heard what Roswaal said 'bout her, 'bout what she did to 'veryone 'round her, 'bout what she's done to th' Sanctuary. Now Roswaal's dead, th' Sanctuary's destroyed, and we're all outta a home with no way of findin' one before winter, 'course I've the intent t'hurt her, ev'n if it was unintentional l'ke that vampire witch ya told me 'bout, I wouldn't feel bad 'bout it in the slightest."

"Roswaal is dead" those words struck Emilia harder than she thought they would, Roswaal was dead because of her, he had become another name on the list of deaths caused by her that was seemingly growing by the day.

Even if Emilia had never been close to Roswaal, their only interactions being meals or when something concerning the Royal Selection came up he was still the one who had brought her out of the forest.

Had she gotten the news at any other time she would have been completely distraught, but at this point she was already too distraught for her feelings to become even the slightest bit more negative then they already where.

It was no longer possible for Emilia to feel any worse than she already did.

"Gar-bo, I think that you should go and find something to keep your hands busy, your mind clearly is not in the right place to be part of this discussion right now."

But Emilia could not help but pay attention to what was going on around her as for the first time since immediately prior to her fight with Subaru, someone was seemingly on her side, someone was defending her.

"Tchhhhhhh" was all Emilia could hear from Garfiel before no sound left him other then the soft impacts made by his feet as he walked away.

The next thing Emilia noticed was the pink haired half-elf sitting down beside her before she heard her old yet kind voice ring out.

"Gar-bo isn't a bad kid, life has not been the kindest to him, just as it has not been the kindest to you Emilia-sama."

Emilia did not know how to respond to this, this kindness was so different then what she had been experiencing, so different that she could not bring herself to respond.

Emilia buried her head once again into her knee's, but this did not seem to bother Ryuzu who just tilted her head up to look at the sky as the two half-elves sat side by side.

"I suppose it is somewhat rude of me to not introduce myself until now, I go by the name Ryuzu and I once was among the overseer's of this place, and until recently I was not even allowed to walk within the town."

Ryuzu then stopped and murmured something while seemingly laughing to herself.

"Even after all these years I still don't understand her…"

But Emilia had finally found the words she was looking for, the question she must ask, the question who's answer held priority above all else to her in this moment.

"Why…..why are you…being so kind to me?" Was what Emilia managed to choke out as she could not even bring herself to look at the person she was asking it to.

But Ryuzu's response was one that was seemingly perfect for her, the most perfect answer for one who had always looked at things like a trade, a give and take of equal proportions.

"I fear that it's because I have to ask for your help, and with nothing to give but a bag of rice and the knowledge I've accumulated over my years, I have to hope that some kindness is enough to balance the scales when I make my request."

Emilia slowly raised and turned her head to look at Ryuzu, who had turned her own body to face Emilia, who was seemingly waiting for a response from her.

"You want my help….you want me to help you? I'm useless, you'll only get hurt by dealing with me, your lives will be ruined…."

Emilia spoke in a voice devoid of joy and full of melancholy, her depressed and tear stained face contrasting with Ryuzu's calm and kind one.

"Giving up before you've even tried is not a good way to get through life, but yes I need you're help, everyone in the Sanctuary does, in fact. Our homes are destroyed and we have no way of repairing them with the forest burning down, and we can't leave due to the barrier that holds us all here. Should things not change before the winter then many will die and even more will suffer, it may be greedy but that's why I have to ask you to lend us your strength."

As Ryuzu spoke of the coming doom that would befall the citizens of Sanctuary should they not be able to leave the barrier, Emilia was searching her soul, the old her and the new fighting it out over how to handle the request.

The new Emilia wanted nothing more then to return to the witch's cabin, lay down on the floor and languish in her melancholy with not a single hope for the future.

But the old Emilia was still somewhere inside her, the Emilia that would do her best to not let a single person suffer if she could help it, the Emilia who would go out of way to help someone and then claim she was doing it for herself and state that things were even between them because of that, the Emilia that Ryuzu had never seen yet was seemingly appealing to.

And it was that Emilia who managed to nod in agreement.

"I feel that my younger self would want to jump up and hug you right now, but you'll have to settle for my sincerest gratitude, I'm just a little too old to be jumping up and hugging people anymore."

Staying true to her word Ryuzu stood up and gave one of the deepest bows Emilia had seen before she stepped of the stairs and began to walk towards the town, turning after a few paces to deliver some parting words.

"I'm afraid that the other overseers won't tolerate my presence here much longer now that I've done what I've been asked, so this is likely to be the only time we will meet Emilia-sama. If you could return here after nightfall then Garfiel will be able to give you the instructions for the task we need you to complete, I will do my best to get him to just be a little more cordial."

Ryuzu then waved and left as she walked off and disappeared amongst the carnage of the village before Emilia could say a thing, the last sight she had of her was her white robes swaying in the breeze.

Emilia then looked up to the sky and found the sun and seeing that it was still far from setting, combined with the nonstop rumbling in her stomach she decided to get up and walk back to the cabin to give cooking a try.

Emilia found herself in slightly higher spirits as she walked back to the cabin, she was by no means happy, but the idea of someone wanting her help made her heart feel just the tiniest bit lighter.

It did not take Emilia long to return to the cabin, and when she did she found it almost exactly as she had left it. The bag of rice was still just inside the doorway and the door to the bedroom was still wide open, just as she had left it.

However what was different was how the door to the kitchen was wide open when she returned, a door that had seemed to be sealed shut both when she'd arrived as well as when she had woken up was now wide open.

Emilia hesitantly entered the kitchen with the bag of rice in her hand, she may have been too out of it before but now she felt very uneasy being in the cabin.

However when it came between uneasiness in her chest and pain in her stomach, the pain would win out every time.

Emilia found a pot on the counter and added some of her rice from the bag to it, then she added just enough of the crystal-clear water she found in a basin to the pot, before placing it on the cooking surface and activating its magistone.

She watched it like a hawk, she did not know how to cook but she would do her best to make sure that it did not burn at the very least.

She stared at it but as she did so she made sure to be at such an angle as to ensure that she would not catch even the slightest glimpse of her own reflection.

She kept watching the pot, doing her best not to let her eyes wander.

She remained as fixated as she could on the pot, the water beginning to roll into a boil.

Her eyes remained fixed on the pot until a painting in the corner of her eye grabbed her attention away from the pot.

At first Emilia saw a large and vibrantly green tree growing atop the hill, within the many branches of the mighty tree was a bird's nest.

The nest was comprised of an assortment of many tightly woven twigs, pieces of straw, and pine needles. Within the nest was a tiny and newly born bird, it's head tilted up towards the blazing sun in the ocean blue sky as it chirped, begging its parents for food.

The two parents happily obliged the baby bird, and as if following the trajectory of the worm, Emilia's gaze moved down the tree to the two people sitting beneath it.

One had long white hair, the other had shorter yet still slightly longer then average brown hair; one had a green butterfly pendant in their hair, the other had nothing in their slightly messy locks.

There may have been many differenced between the two, but there was a single similarity between them as they sat there in the shade at the base of the tree.

Both of them were smiling.

But as Emilia looked at them she found herself being drawn further and further into the painting, drawn in until she began to see different meaning in the lines.

It was not like the picture itself was redrawing itself, but the very meaning behind everything was changing so that it became something so very different that it may as well have not been the same painting.

The sky was no longer bright and blue with the sun at its zenith, instead it was shrouded by dark grey overcasting clouds.

The grass covering the hill was no longer growing thick and green, instead it was withering to a brownish colour devoid of life as it grew sparser and sparser.

The tree atop the hill lacked its vibrant green leaves, instead it stood there dead without the faintest hint of life within its not so mighty trunk. However although the tree may be dead, it lacked even the faintest hint of decay, as if it refused to give up on the world that had condemned it to the path it lay on.

The bird's nest had seemingly long fallen from the branches, within it lay a single abandoned egg that was as cold as stone, the child within it never having been born, never being either graced with the joys of life or condemned to the suffering that would accompany them.

Finally the lone white haired woman sat beneath the tree, half her face contorted in anguish as tears streamed out from one eye; the other half of her face however lacked any emotion whatsoever as it looked blankly out over the dark and dying grassy field.

Emilia could not pull herself from the painting, it entranced her, captivated her, verged on consuming her, all until the acrid smell of something burning filled her nostrils.

Emilia looked down at the pot and stared at the charred and inedible mess that filled it; all the water had all evaporated leaving nothing but the ashy remains of rice that had been cooking dry for who knows how long as Emilia had stared at the painting.

She silently deactivated the magistone, turned around so she faced into the centre of the room and sunk to the floor.

Her face remained empty for a mere instant before the muscles tightened in her cheeks, her eyes clamping themselves shut.

She ran her through her silver hair until they reached the sides of her head at which point they balled into fists, grabbing clumps of her hair and pulled.

Her legs pulled themselves close to her as her head buried itself into her knees.

Emilia began to cry out to nobody in particular, no longer capable of holding the torrent of emotions that filled and weighed down her heart, emotions that were as heavy as lead.

"Why can nothing go right….why does everything have to be so bad….everyone was right…..I'm useless….I'm a walking disaster…how could I even think I could help Ryuzu and the villagers… they're all going to die because of me…"

Emilia's speech was punctuated by sobs as her grip on her hair gradually loosened only for her hands to place her nails against the sides of her head and push.

Her arms shook as her nails dug deeper and deeper, beginning to draw blood that slowly trickled down to the ground to join her tears.

"I hate this…..I hate myself…there's nothing happy about anything anymore…life brings nothing but pain…..I wish I'd never been woken up in the forest…."

Emilia threw herself so she fell deeper and deeper into a pit that festered with her own self loathing, her own depression, a place that the old Emilia could not survive in.

But once again something stopped her from going all the way to a place she would never return from, a voice broken up by its own crying echoed through her head, a voice that only she could hear, but it was a voice she had heard before.

"I'm so sorry…. I'm so sorry Lia…..I wasn't there when you needed me most…."

Emilia knew that only she could hear Puck, she knew that since it felt like his voice was bouncing around inside her head that he had not taken a physical form, but it was doubtful that she would raise her head to look for him even if he did have one, she could not even bring herself to speak back to him.

"I tried, I really did…..I really tried my best to come and help you Lia….. But even now I'm not sure I can keep this up…"

Puck cried to Emilia as she did not respond in the slightest to what he was saying, they were truly father and daughter, both consumed to varying amounts by some form of self antagonistic emotion.

"Can you stop Lia….can you stop hurting yourself like that…..you could leave scars…"

And it was this of all things that managed to draw Emilia's attention away from the misery that she was wallowing in.

"What does it matter, I already look like a monster so how would something like that even change anything, I can't possibly look worse."

Emilia's voice was low and barely audible as she said this, but even hearing her speak at this point was enough for Puck to regain his composure, it was progress, no matter how small it was.

"What happened to you Lia…."

The despair was so thick in Puck's voice that one could probably cut it, but it was slowly managing to get Emilia to release her own shackles made of melancholy.

"I LEAREND THE TRUTH PUCK! I LEARNED THAT I'M A USELESS, HORRIBLE MONSTER THAT ONLY HURTS EVERYONE AROUND ME! LOOK, I'M HURTING YOU RIGHT NOW, YOU CAN'T EVEN APPEAR BECAUSE OF ME!"

For the first time in their conversation Emilia lifted her head from her knees, if someone else were in the room with her they would have been able to see the trails of tears and blood that ran across her face, they would have been able to see how her eyes shimmered as she shouted out due to the emotional pain plaguing her.

"That's not true Lia, it's not true at all…..None of this is your fault….."

Puck was trying to console her, trying his best but he could not keep the sadness out of his voice, the sadness caused by seeing the state that his daughter was in.

"THEN WHOSE IS IT PUCK? IF IT ISN'T MINE THEN WHOSE IS IT?"

Initially Emilia was shouting, but as the words that she would say next floated into her head the vigour behind her words vanished.

She was exhausted and emotionally broken, but even then shouting out at her father as he tried to help her was not something she wanted to do, it had been something she had done solely as an emotional outburst.

"All those people I killed, there's so much bloods on my hands now Puck…. The knight, the innocent citizens just trying to live their lives, Roswaal; I got Ram so badly hurt that she might die, and Subaru's mind is broken. I did it all to them Puck, I'm a horrible monster that should just hide away from the world until I die. I just want to disappear Puck."

After speaking Emilia rested her chin on her knee as she just looked at the floor, tears now slowly rolling out of her eyes as she blinked instead of the torrent that had flooded out before.

"That's not true Lia, you can't just take responsibility like that, you have to remember that those people had choices to that played into what happened. If at any moment they had decided to do something different then they could have avoided what happened, they could have avoided the fate that met them. You can't let others blame you for everything Lia, but you also can't blame yourself for everything as well. Remember Ryuzu, I heard how she asked you to help her and all the villagers here, would she have done that if you were a useless monster like you say you are?"

Puck's voice was sounding more and more confident as he spoke, every time he managed to nudge Emilia a bit closer towards the light she had usually resided in his own mood improved vastly.

"She shouldn't have asked me since I'm only going to let her down, and then I'll have her blood and that of those that have survived so far on my hands as well."

While Emilia may no longer have been as far under the sea of melancholy as she was before, by no means was she free of it, her refusal to believe that she was anything but useless was proof of that.

"You shouldn't give up before you even try like this Lia, if you don't want to believe in yourself then will you try because I believe in you?"

And with that Puck managed to coax Emilia back into trying, even if she did not believe in herself she would not give up as long as one person believed that she could do it.

"Ohhhhhhh, why do you always know how to get me to do things even if I don't want to." Emilia lamented as she blinked her eyes a few times to knock out the remaining tears, tilting her head up just a bit to look where she imagined Puck would be floating if he had a form at that moment.

"I wouldn't say that Lia, I never could get you to try Peppirs a second time. There's also still a little time before you have to meet Garfiel by the tomb, why not try to cook the rice again and I'll give you some pointers."

And with that Emilia stood up from the floor, although she had needed help she had managed to survive her encounter with her own melancholy once again, scoring herself a meal in the process.

---

"If Puck believes in me I can do this."

Emilia said these words to herself over and over again as she walked down the same trail she had walked along with Garfiel earlier in the day. The difference between then and now however was that the sun had already fallen below the horizon, leading to a deep blanket of darkness cloaking the land, the same reason as to why Puck was not with her, he was fast asleep within his crystal.

It was already incredibly dark, and with the tree's casting even deeper shadows then it would probably be impossible for her to navigate her way anywhere in any meaningful manner, the only reason she had any belief that she could get to the tomb is because the path was devoid of any forks.

But each step she took brought her closer and closer to the tomb and eventually she saw faint specs of light off in the distance, and before she knew it she was standing amongst those who held the torches, right before the tomb.

"You seem a bit differ'nt from earlier, Princess."

Garfiel said as he looked slightly miffed at the appearance of Emilia when she stepped into the light of his torch and the villagers that waited with him before the tomb.

"Huh, different? I guess I ate for the first time in awhile, but I didn't think it would make me look any different?"

Emilia's inability to understand the meaning behind is commented managed to irritate Garfiel just a tiny bit, but he did not let that stop him as he has a job to do, and they were all up against the clock after all.

"My amazin' self'll cut to the chase, in order to leave the Sanctuary we need to get the permission of the witch who lies in that tomb over th're. To do that you must be eligible and then pass her test to prov' it to her or something. Do that 'nd then we can all not die slow and gruesome deaths to the coming winter, fail and we're stuck here. I ain't taking any questions so just waltz up there and you'll see for yourself."

Garfiel stood there with his arms crossed trying to look as tough as possible, but his tone was significantly nicer than it had been earlier in the day, whatever Ryuzu said must have had an effect.

"Hmmp"

Emilia took a breath before painting a determined look onto her face before she began to ascend the steps that lead up and into the tomb which began to grow a soft blue once she got close.

As Emilia entered the tomb she noticed that room she was in had nothing in it, there was a closed door in front of her and the opening that she had entered through behind her.

She walked forward towards the shut door but before she could reach it she was hit by a wave of drowsiness so great that she immediately found herself on the stone floor.

Her eyelids slowly drifted up and down as she fought to stay awake, fighting a battle they could not possible win, losing as they fell shut.

"Face the past that you run from" echoed out in Emilia's own voice as she soon found herself in a reality far different then the one she had just left.

Bitter biting coldness was the first thing she felt, it penetrated her skin and seeped right down to the bone.

The air was so frigid that every single breath she took burned the whole way down from her throat, setting her lungs on fire as she simply tried to do what she needed to in order to live.

Her hands quickly grew sore, ever bit of skin in contact with the ground felt like needles were slowly shooting their way up and gouging into her.

She pushed herself up to her feet but her hands and ears were soon starting to sting so much that it was hard to focus on anything other then the pain, at this point it was difficult for her to even open and close her hands into fists.

It was so cold that her fingertips were already starting to discolour.

Emilia looked around but the only thing around her was white, blowing snow that obscured her vision in every single direction, preventing her from seeing anything with one exception.

Infront of her stood a raised tree on a mound with a small door that looked like it led to a tiny room that must have been constructed within the root system underneath the trunk.

Emilia did her best to stagger through the blizzard, with every second that passed the snow got deeper which made it significantly harder to walk; it certainly did not help that her legs felt stiffer and stiffer with each and every passing second from the cold that seemed to be latching on and gnawing at them.

When she finally reached the door she instantly reached for the handle, the frigid metal burning her skin on contact, but she endured through it in order to throw the door open and reveal what was inside the room.

She was immediately greeted with the sight of a little girl who stood in the middle of a tiny room looking up at her.

Behind the little girl on the table was a crude hand painting of a tower emerging from the sand, surrounded by tiny things laying all over the sand dunes that Emilia could not recognize for the life of her.

But Emilia's attention soon switched to the little girl; she had long silver hair that was topped by a purple headband. Her eyes were the same amethyst colour as Emilia's and she wore clothing in the same white and purple colour scheme as Emilia, but she looked to be many years her junior.

Emilia stepped forward to enter the room, but just as her foot was about to cross the threshold the little girl just stuck her tongue out and slammed the door shut with such force that it seemed unlikely that the little girl had actually been the one to do so.

"Hey! It's reaaaaaally cold out here, I'm going to freeze!" Emilia tried her best to shout this over the raging blizzard as she reached for the doorhandle a second time.

But as she threw open the door a second time she was not greeted by the same sight as before, in fact this one was vastly different.

There was red everywhere, the walls, the floors, even the ceiling dripped with it. There was blood coating every surface of the room and in the midst of it stood a platinum haired girl with a knife that dripped with it.

She looked at Emilia with crystal blue eyes, a smile on her face, and the body of a black-haired man with a gaping chest wound at her feet. Emilia instantly recognized both of them, they were both in the painting she had seen in the witch's cabin.

The girl continued to smile and began to slowly step towards Emilia, Emilia felt immense rage and hatred swell inside her as she looked at the girl, the same emotions she had felt when she had seen her in the painting.

Emilia hated this girl, her heart screamed out at her to grab her by the throat and throttle her until she stopped breathing. But Emilia's mind was urging her to act differently, it was urging her to run from the knife wielding girl who seemed to have already killed the man, before she got close enough to do the same to her.

Emilia slammed the door closed and ran, she ran off into the pure white of the blizzard without even the slightest clue of where she was going or what she would find.

She ran until one of her legs got caught in the deep snow and she found herself flying forwards.

However Emilia did not fall, she found herself in the arms of what looked to be an elf.

However this Elf was seemingly an ice statue, there was not a single speck of flesh of any kind within the crystal clear ice.

Before Emilia could say anything she heard the grinding of ice on ice as the elve's head turned so that it looked right at her, and then its mouth began to move.

"YOU DID THIS, YOU CONDEMNED US TO THIS HORRID FATE!"

Emilia recoiled her body in shock, falling out of the ice elf's hands and onto the snowy ground.

She started to see more of these frozen elven statues appearing from all corners of her vision, the sheer panic they induced in her making her scramble to her feet.

As she ran off into the blizzard once more she kept hearing their voices follow after her.

"MURDERER!"

"WE ALL DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"WE GAVE EVERYTHING FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?"

These words managed to keep up with her no matter how far she ran.

They kept up with her until she heard another voice call to her within the storm, a voice calling her name.

"EMILIA!"

The voice did not sound angry in the slightest, it was full of worry and concern, like a mother looking for a lost child.

"EMILIA!"

The voice called once more as Emilia began to see an outline form within the storm directly in front of her, an outline that soon turned into a person that rushed towards her.

She had silver hair like Emilia's except hers was significantly shorter, cropped close to her head. The woman's eyes were the same amatheyst colour that the little girl's were, except unlike the little girl this woman had mean and scary looking eyes, similar to Subaru's.

When the woman reached Emilia she grabbed both of Emilia's upper arms and pulled her close as she started to barrage Emilia with questions, a worried look overtaking her face as she stared directly into Emilia's eyes.

"I told you to stay in the room Emilia, why are you out here like this? You feel so cold, we need to get you somewhere warm before it's too late, but we also can't stay here long, we realllllly need to hurry….."

The ladies voiced was full of worry and concern which was only made worse by Emilia's inability to answer her.

Looking at her made Emilia's head hurt, she felt familiar somehow but Emilia did not know why, there was a void in her head and whenever she tried to venture into it she was hit with a mind splitting pain flaring inside her skull.

Emilia fell to her knee's as she thought as hard as she could about who this lady might be, but this action only caused the lady to freak out even further as she rushed down as well trying to see what was wrong with Emilia.

Emilia had her eyes clamped shut as she thought as hard as she could, but nothing was coming up.

The lady was shaking Emilia by the shoulders while calling her name, "Emilia, Emilia!" as she tried to get her attention, her voice getting more and more desperate with each repition of the call.

Emilia could not figure out who the lady was, eventually she opened her eyes and decided to simply ask, something she would instantly come to regret.

"I'm sorry…but who are you?"

The words should have been innocent enough, especially when asked in an innocent voice without the slightest hint of malice.

But Emilia could only watch as the woman's face contorted in pain, Emilia could see in her eyes that it was like something deep inside her soul had been broken by those 6 innocent words.

The lady froze as she was unable to come to terms with what she was hearing, her mouth made a few movements as if trying to form words, but there was no sound.

Eventually one sound did come out, "Fortuna" but before anymore words could follow behind this name the woman's chest sudden burst open like something had slammed into her body from behind and pierced through.

Emilia could not move a single muscle as she froze up in shock, Fortuna's blood drenching her as she watched the ladies heart float outside and in front of her body, like something invisible was holding onto it.

Blood ran out from the corners of Fortuna's mouth as she weakly smiled at Emilia before her body went limp as her heart was crushed by whatever invisible force had held it in the air.

"EMILIA, GET UP, WE HAVE TO GO!"

A new voice shouted from behind her as a hand grasped her arm and began to pull her away from Fortuna's body as it floated motionless in the air in front of her, devoid of life.

"EMILIA!"

The masculine voice once again shouted as the blizzard began to increase in intensity, howling to the point that it threatened to drown out his voice.

But Emilia could only watch in horror as Fortuna's body was violently pulled backwards, consumed by the blinding white snow where it disappeared from vision.

The man who was the source of the voice and the arm that tried to pull her back suddenly rushed around in front of her, allowing Emilia to see his long blonde hair and light green eyes.

"Emilia if you don't get up you will die, you have to do something for yourself this once, if you don't then nothing will change!"

The man said these words without the slightest hint of malice even if he did have to shout in order to be heard over the deafening wail made by the wind.

Before Emilia could respond however something black streaked across her vision and slammed into the man's ribcage and bit down.

It was a large black serpent.

It released its grip and retreated an incredibly short distance as the area around its bite on the man began to rapidly change colour.

It pounced again and bit down on another part of the man's body.

It did this again and again, the man could not do a thing to fight back, and soon he lay still in the snow and unmoving.

The snakes focus was entirely on the man as it began to bite down once more, but by the undulation and pulsation of its muscles Emilia could tell that it was sucking something out of the man's body, feeding on his liquified insides like a spider would after its venom had done its gruesome work.

The snake did not react to Emilia in the slightest, nor did it react when one final person began to walk towards her through the snowstorm.

It was the girl who she had seen with the bloody knife, except now there was not even the slightest hint of blood on her body, nor did she have the knife anymore.

Her eyes however were completely locked on Emilia as she moved past the snake that was feasting on the man like it was completely insignificant.

"The key"

The girl spoke in a soft voice, but there was an undertone of determination behind it as she made her demand, drawing ever closer with each step.

"I need the key to save him, give it to me."

Emilia did not have the slightest clue what the girl meant by the key, she was consumed solely by fear and hatred when she looked at her, even if she had this key that was being spoken of she definitely would not give it to her.

"If you give me the key I can fix everything, undo all this pain and return the world to the way it should be."

When Emilia heard this her opinion changed, she may hate this person but was that hatred worth leaving this horrid scenario as it was?

"I don't have any key though"

Emilia managed to call out in response to the girl, who stopped in her tracks when she heard the words.

"You do have the key, Sensei gave it to you, look inside yourself, you must have it."

Her voice remained soft and calm but Emilia could tell that she was not pleased to hear what she just did.

"I really don't have it, I don't know what's going on, I've never been given any key….."

As those words left Emilia's mouth for the first time she saw the girl frown, frown as she uttered four final words.

"So be it then"

And with those words the snake suddenly shot upright from the man's corpse, its cruel black eyes fixated directly on Emilia.

In the next instant it bolted directly for her, her limbs were too frozen at this point to move, she could not avoid it as it's sharp black fangs bore straight down on her neck.

Pain shot through all of Emilia's body as she felt something vile flow into her through the fangs that had driven themselves deep into her body.

Searing pain consumed her as she felt what little warmth that remained inside her flow out through the site of the bite.

Emilia felt her body go limp as her vision faded to black, she now lay on the ground unable to see even though she was sure her eyes were open.

She no longer felt like she was freezing as the cold had long disappeared.

She no longer felt the snake's maw bearing down on her as she was somewhere where it was not.

The howling of the wind had given way to the sounds of someone softly crying, a woman whose voice Emilia had never heard.

Emilia felt vastly smaller then before, smaller then the little girl she had seen, so small that she may as well have been an infant again.

She was in her arms, strong yet small arms that Emilia had never felt before.

"I'm sorry Emilia…." Were the only words she heard from her as she cried, the last words she heard before her body finally gave way and broke apart.

Emilia was nothing more then dust now as she slipped away through the woman's fingertips and was blown away by the gentle gust of a slight breeze.

Emilia had failed.