"What's the matter? Why'd you suddenly space out?"

A middle aged man with stern features called out to her, however, her response was nothing but silence. The lack of response caused the man to wrinkle his brows in frustration as his mouth formed into a scowl.

"Hey, I'm asking a question here! You want the appa or not?"

The woman continued to answer in only silence, her head was hung low as a dark shadow was cast over her face. The man grew more and more irritated at the woman's lack of reaction.

"Oi, little lady I don't have all day! The appa! You said you wanted to eat it right? I have a business to run here and if you aren't interested in buying anything, get out! I don't have time for window shoppers!"

As the man's voice grew louder, onlookers started to give him strange looks. Ignoring the man, she touched her hands and throat, making sure they were there. With an empty gaze, she looked at the merchant who was calling to her, before falling to the ground while hugging her body.

"Hey! Are you fine?" Standing up, he moved to the woman's side, worried about her sudden collapse. She paid him no mind, deep in her thoughts while hugging herself.

"Wha…? Wh-What happened? The sun had set and then…" Remembering what had happened, her hug became tighter, her fingernails tracing a fine trail of blood on her arms.

The pain of losing her extremities hit her, and she aggressively wanted to make sure they were still there. She became more and more agitated as her breathing became rougher.

"Uh?" Looking back, she saw a green-haired man attempting to take her attention by shaking her shoulders.

"Are ya good?" He asked in a worried tone.

Unsure how to answer, she slowly nodded. Scratching the back of his head, the man sighed and helped her stand up. He helped her walk towards his stand and made her sit there for a while.

"There. I don't know what got into ya but eat this and calm down." He offered Natsumi a red appa, which she absent-mindedly started to munch on while the appa seller told the curious crowd to disappear.

Her body, still trembling as the phantom pain pulsed throughout her body. Her eyes rapidly shook as they moved. "I-I died? But… Th-That's impossible. It must have been a hallucination. But it felt so real…"

She raised her head, observing her surroundings and dropping the half-eaten apple to the ground.

"But, I'm back. Was everything fake? Did my friendship with Reinhard never exist?"

Noticing the young woman dropping the apple she was eating, he called her attention.

"Hey, are ya fine now?"

"Yes, I-I'm fine now." Said Natsumi, forcing a smile onto her face. The shopkeeper handed her plastic bag back to her, before continuing with clear worry in his voice.

"Are ya really good? Ya still look sick.."

"Yes. I-I'll be going now."

For the next few minutes she walked without direction, attempting to organize her thoughts. She bumped a few items with some passersby, who quickly left her alone after noticing her eyes and nonsense muttering.

Turning a random corner, Natsumi bumped into someone.

"Hey!"

Looking down, she saw a familiar tuft of golden hair. It was the same little girl who abandoned her before, dressed in the same skimpy clothes.

"Hey watch where you're going!" The little girl yelled.

The small girl stared up, her red eyes shaped in a glare.

"I have no time for ya!" As she tried to run away, Natsumi grabbed her hand at the last moment.

"T-There's something I want to ask you." She said as she recalled the moment she left her alone instead of helping or even calling for anyone.

"Huh? You know me?" She fiercely shook her hand, letting herself free from Natsumi's weak grip.

"I don't have time, there's a job I gotta do. Come to th' loothouse in the slums if ya need something from me." Free from her grasp, the golden-haired youth dashed past Natsumi at incredible speed. Natsumi's next words were heard by no one.

"The slums? But that's whe-" She stopped herself, as fear soon took over her mind once again and the girl was out of sight, having jumped straight into a rooftop from the middle of the street.

As exhaustion began to creep back up, Natsumi sat down. Her body and mind were exhausted from the recent events. Heaving a sigh, Natsumi tried to relax her mind and regain her scattered thoughts once again.

"Was that a warning? If I don't run, I'll end like that? Should I warn people of that? Would they believe me?"

However, she didn't have time to organize her thoughts, as a voice like a silver bell called out to her.

"You there!" Rising her sight from the ground and looking at the back of the alley, Natsumi saw a woman her height, glaring at her. As she approached she saw more of her figure: Her white and purple dress with white leggings. A white flower on the right side of her silver hair, reaching her hips. Once she stood in front of her she caught attention of her purple eyes, as well as the feature that stood out the most; her pointy, elf-like ears.

"Give me my insignia back!" She requested.

"Huh? An insignia?" She replied, confused as to what she could possibly be talking about.

"You're with her, aren't you? The girl who stole my insignia."

"You mean the girl who just ran past me? I'm not with her." She shook her head in answer to her words.

"Huh? You're not?" The silver-haired beauty softened her gaze.

"No," Natsumi said, shaking her head. "I just bumped into her."

"Hm…" She pondered with her finger over her cheek in a cute way. "Do you know where she went?"

Natsumi remained in silence for a few seconds, thinking about whether she should reveal where the golden-haired girl went. The image of the imposing beast plagued her mind once more.

The feeling of frost consuming her limbs returned. She had to rub her arms to dispel the feeling, shivering. Had all that been real?

On the off chance it was real, could she send this girl into the torrential blizzard of that beast. If it had been real then Natsumi had been kilometers away, and she'd still died. Could she send this girl into the very heart of that freezing storm?

"No." In the end, she couldn't send the elf to her death.

"You're lying." After observing Natsumi's expression, the silver-haired beauty put her hands on her hips and gazed deep into Natsumi's eyes. Her sudden change in attitude scared the already mentally unstable girl and seeing her panicking, the elf changed to a less intimidating tone.

"Ah, I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that!" She blabbed out, now panicking herself. "It's just that Puck told me you were lying so I wanted to know the truth but I didn't mean to scare and-"

"It's fine." Natsumi attempted to calm her down. "But who's Puck? I don't see anyone here."

Straightening up, the silver-haired elf gently touched the green jewel near her chest. A second later, a small cat emerged. It was small enough to fit in a palm, wearing a coat of gray fur with floppy ears and a stubby pink nose along with a long tail that curled in on itself. It was the perfect definition of the word adorable.

"Yo!" said the cat, its voice high pitched and androgynous.

Natsumi was left speechless. The first thing that came to her head was to touch it. Poking Puck's cheek, she felt how comfortable his fur was.

"It's rare for someone to have an spi- PUCK!?" She interrupted her words as Puck's entire form was deformed by Natsumi's aggressive patting.

"Ah… It's like this fur is healing me…" Feeling how soft and warm his fur was, she couldn't stop patting him. At first, she simply stroked his cheek, before quickly increasing her pace and eventually ending up how she currently was: Aggressively touching his entire body with a dumb smile on her face.

After a long minute, where the elf attempted to take Natsumi's attention to no avail, she finally calmed down and left the poor feline spirit alone. Noticing the worried expression of the girl beneath her, she quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry! Its hair is so fluffy and I got carried away…"

"Hm, it's fine." She shook her head. "Puck's fur it's reaaaaally fluffy. But it's rare for someone to touch Puck."

"Huh? It's rare?" Natsumi tilted her head in confusion.

"For a Great Spirit like me, you need an extremely high spirit affinity to touch me." Replied Puck, floating next to his contractor.

"A spirit? But Reinhard described them as orbs of light…"

"You pet me all good, so now tell us where the girl went." Puck said. Despite his carefree attitude, Natsumi gulped, before confessing to the thief's location.

"I c-" Despite her best intentions, she couldn't get those words to come out. Puck tilted his head to the left, waiting for her to answer. For a moment she saw the beast, surrounded by that infernal blizzard, its head tilting in the exact same way.

That same phantom frost consumed Natsumi, tears pounded at the back of her eyes, but she suppressed them before they could come. The spirit's eyes drilled into her, flashing yellow for an instant.

Was Puck that thing? No. He wasn't. That thing was a monster, something far more horrible. Puck was just worried about this girl and wanted to get what she'd lost back. He wasn't that horrifying beast. Natsumi's mind was just playing tricks on her.

Yet still, her panic had loosened her tongue, and she couldn't stop herself from giving away the location of the girl.

"She said that she went to a loothouse in the slums." Natsumi said, looking at the ground, her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to dismiss that feeling.

"You heard her Puck? Le-" The girl began, but Natsumi couldn't let her finish.

"But you can't go. Something bad will happen if you go." With a bit of newfound determination, Natsumi managed to say what she had attempted before.

"Something bad? Explain." With a more intimidating tone than before, Puck demanded an answer. Natsumi's words stuck in her throat. She gulped and was free to speak, hiding her fear as much as she could.

"A giant beast will appear in the slums and freeze the city. If you go, you… you'll die."

The contractor-spirit duo remained in silence. The elf looked at the feline, waiting for him to say something. The spirit gazed at Natsumi, as if stripping her nude and directly observing her own soul. After some long seconds, he playfully shook his fist.

"I'll take care of any threats that dare to hurt my daughter! So, you don't need to worry about her, or me, '' Puck said as he enthusiastically gave a thumbs up.

Natsumi couldn't help but giggle at the cartoonish display, her unease dissipating a little. But as the seconds passed the weirdness of Puck's answer set in. She shivered.

With the information they wanted, the duo left the scene. Natsumi hurried behind the pair and lightly tugged on the half elf's skirt making her turn her head backward.

"C-Can I go with you?" Natsumi said as she nervously moved a strand of hair behind her ears.

"Eh?"

"It's just that I'm worried about you two, that's all."

"If Puck says he'll protect her, he can protect me too, right?" Ashamed of herself, she decided to follow both for her own protection.

"I also don't know your name…"

"My name is…" She left her words to drift off, before finally ending. "Satella."

"Satella…" Natsumi's eyes illuminated, and her lips curved into a smile. "What a wonderful name." Satella could only look on in bewilderment, her face held a look as if she had just been slapped across the face by a fish.

The awkward silence carried on for a little while, until Puck jokingly punched Natsumi in the face with no force at all.

"You have terrible taste."

"What? But it's a wonderful name. It means "star" in Latin. I wanted to work at the NAOJ so I know anything you could possibly know about stars."

"Naohjee?" Satella tilted her head at the strange word Natsumi had just used.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It's just a place in my homeland." Changing the topic, she continued. "Anyways, you can call me Natsumi."

"Natsumi, we gladly accept your help, any shields between my daughter and danger are appreciated." Said Puck in a playful tone as he playfully curled his tail.

"Puck! Don't listen to him Natsumi, Puck is just joking."

"So… We start going?" Natsumi dismissed Puck's words as nothing else than a poor joke.

Remaining in silence, Satella nodded and left the alley with Puck at her side, with Natsumi following behind.

"Are you fine Lia?" Walking down the streets toward the slums, Puck took the opportunity that Natsumi was currently busy playing with a small kid to speak to his contractor.

"No." Having found a lost kid, she tried to help to find her mother, but only made the kid more distressed once she saw her hair and ears, the same silver-hair Natsumi had complimented before.

"You tried to scare her away, didn't you?" Emilia nodded.

"She has no malicious intent, Lia. She genuinely wants to be your friend."

"But…"

"She also has no idea of who the Witch is. Every time she complimented her name, your hair or ears I only sensed pure intentions." Emilia was left dumbfounded by Puck's words.

"But, how could someone not know her?"

"I don't know, but I think it would be a good idea to give her a chance don't you think so? It's not often we meet someone who isn't terrified of you."

The harsh reality of Puck's words stung Emilia's heart; her defense began to crumble as her beautiful eyes began to tear up.

Noticing his daughter's pain, Puck quickly stepped in to cheer up the crying girl.

"Look Lia, this is nothing to be sad about. Natsumi is kind and can be a good friend to you. And if she does anything, I'll take care of her."

"What do you mean about taking care of her?"

"You don't have to worry about it, that's what I am for after all." Puck dismissed the subject as he gave a big thumbs up.

"No, bad Puck. As contractor and spirit we have to share our burdens."

Emilia said, as she puffed up her cheeks and wagged her finger like a mother scolding a child.

"Okay okay okay, if you say so Lia."

"Good, now then let's go we still have to get my insignia."

"As you say, Lia. But be sure to get your insignia before the sun sets so I can protect you."

"Hm." Emilia nodded in response to his words, and then Puck vanished back into the green jewel to conserve his Od.

"You don't need to come, Natsumi." Satella said.

"B-But…"

"No buts. You're tired, aren't you? You look worse since coming to the slums." Satella said. Her eyes were contorted into a worried expression.

Natsumi remained silent, weakly nodding her head after a few seconds. Her anxiety had grown to such a level that she couldn't hide it anymore.

"I'll recover my insignia myself. Puck will protect me, right Puck?" Manifesting from behind Satella's hair, the small feline spirit shook his fist in cute anger.

"I'll protect my lovely daughter from any danger coming her way! So you don't have to worry about anything."

"That's good. I'll wait here then." Natsumi said, looking up at the sky.

"The sun is still up…" After being comforted by the pair, Natsumi smiled and waited for the half-elf and her spirit to return from the loothouse.

Whatever she experienced before wouldn't happen now. It was too early for the sudden freezing to happen.

"I'll just wait for Satella to return."

Over time, she grew fond of the half-elf. Her naivety at quickly believing her words of not working with the thief; as well as her good heart, spending time with her and helping others despite being in a rush convinced her of having to help her. Someone like her would easily end up being taken advantage of by others.

Not through violence, as she over and over showed profound faith in her feline companion's strength, but through faked goodwill. Satella's heart was too pure to see through lies. Or that was the opinion Natsumi had of her.

A pure-hearted person. She had gone as far as offering to help the poor slum dwellers. Had she not convinced the elf of focusing on her insignia, who knows at what time they would have arrived here.

Distracted with her thoughts, something felt… wrong to Natsumi. Was there something in the air? There was one smell she couldn't recognize…

It was then that she heard it. A loud "clang", followed by a quick succession of the same sound, coming from the loot-house.

"Satella!" Sensing that something was wrong, Natsumi dashed towards the wooden building. Stepping inside, she stepped on something wet. Blood.

The view inside was alien to her. The headless corpse of a tall man stood behind the counter, with the golden-haired girl that told her tome here lying upside down nearby.

But the worst of everything was a silver-haired girl resting on the ground, roughly breathing as she held her right hand over a massive cut on her stomach, a pale blue light surrounding the injury.

"Ara, you saw that?" An unknown voice rang out. Turning towards the voice origin, a black shadow lunged toward Natsumi. A second later, Natsumi fell to the ground holding her stomach.

It burned. It burned so much. Despite the dim light in the room, she could clearly see and feel it. The hot sensation of holding her guts in her hands.

"Nat...sumi… I'm so...rry…" With every word, Satella's eyelids became heavier and heavier. Closing her eyes, the pale light that illuminated the room disappeared as well.

"Ah, this job was so satisfying! A giant, two lovely girls, and even a half-elf! All of you have such beautiful bowels…" The unknown feminine voice drifted off in ecstasy.

"What is this? My stomach is so hot and it hurts so much… " As she experienced a hot, burning pain, she overheard a voice she had listened to for the past few hours.

"You… You two…" Hovering over Satella's dead body, Puck spoke with clear hate in his tone.

"I always wanted to see the guts of a spirit… What can a spirit without a contractor do?" Teased the lustful woman.

"You make the mistake of assuming our contract is not still active, child," Puck said. For a short instant, his eyes flashed yellow. It wasn't in Natsumi's imagination.

"This is both of your faults. Lia is dead because of you. In accordance with my contract, I will now destroy the world. " A frigid wind enveloped the surroundings. It gently froze Natsumi's injury, stopping her from bleeding to her death; while simultaneously turning the assassin into a shattered ice statue.

"You were least at fault for this, assassin. So enjoy mercy."

"Puck?" Now laying back to a wall, Natsumi asked. Puck seemed completely different than before: His friendly, casual attitude had been replaced by sheer hate. He glared at Natsumi with his arms crossed before lashing out at her.

"You're worse than her. You knew about this, yet you did nothing. You won't have mercy like the other."

"Huh? Wh-"

"Don't try to lie to me. You knew I would adopt this form. That Lia would die." He intensified his glare, not giving Natsumi a chance to reply.

"You betrayed her trust. She trusted you, yet you led her here. She used the name of the witch to scare you away, yet you complimented it. You have no idea how your words hurt Lia." The cold wind enveloped Satella's corpse, sealing her in an ice coffin. Then, a burst of ice enveloped the slums as Puck's true form broke the loot-house's roof.

"The other might have gotten away, but it doesn't matter. This world will soon meet its end. A world without my daughter cannot exist." Looking at the horizon, gazing at the royal castle, Puck the Beast of the End quickly drained the surroundings of all mana, freezing the area and working towards turning the capital into a snowy wasteland at a steady pace.

"It's all your fault." Towering above Natsumi, Puck lowered his head and exhaled icy breath over the cowering Natsumi.

"It is time for your punishment, Natsumi."

Starting from the deep cut in her stomach, white steam rose as small ice crystals started appearing in her guts. They stabbed through the wounds, releasing her stomach acid. The acid melted away at her organs, while on the outside frost rushed up her skin.

A second later her stomach froze, the acid crystallizing, ending the immense burning pain in her gut. Natsumi clawed at the opening, trying to close it before more cold could enter her. It was so cold, so cold. The second her hands touched her wound again, they froze.

"AHHHHHH!" Natsumi released a horrid scream, her lips freezing and the inside of her throat was filled with snow. When those lips met again they fused under the cold, sealing her mouth.

Everything froze, her clothes becoming ice. Natsumi twitched, and they shattered. Her clothes fell apart, exposing her nude body to the world. Her eyes flicked up at Puck's yellow orbs, which bore down on her, not giving the slightest reaction to her suffering.

She tried to cover herself on instinct, the skin on her hands ripped off on contact with the layer of frost on top of her skin. The blood coming from the newly exposed underlayer froze. She grasped onto the instinct to retain her modesty, it was the last thing she had.

She covered her chest, her nipples snapped off the moment her hands brushed them. Another scream ripped loose from her. Her lips tore apart, blood gushed into her mouth before freezing as she forced her mouth open.

"MOM! DAD! PLEASE HELP!" She pleaded.

No one responded to her. All that happened was Puck, staring down at her with his icy enmity. Natsumi's tears froze, stabbing her eyes.

Why was she excited about being in a different world, finally free?

"Please, I want to go back. I want to go home. Please, let me go home. Mommy, daddy, please, can I come home? I don't want to be here anymore. I'll work harder so let me go back. I won't complain anymore so let me go back."

Natsumi's body began to give out. She'd only lasted this long because Puck, in his sadistic mercy, had kept her insides from freezing. But now the glaciation was consuming her internal organs.

As her death set in, Puck's colossal form stood up, averting his gaze from the woman and focusing on the castle in the distance.

"The Sword Saint approaches...It seems I won't be able to complete my contract." He said, angry, hateful, and spiteful. He turned his head back towards Natsumi.

"But you… You won't escape. Sleep forever along with my daughter." Puck's eyes shined for a split second, and a frigid storm enveloped the slums.

"Please, just let me go home. I don't want to die… again, I don't want to."

Natsumi tried to breathe, but her lungs were ice. She could no longer feel his extremities, much less move them.

"I'm dying again, why… I was just getting mom some mayo… why couldn't I just go home with it. Why couldn't I eat dinner with them? Why do I have to be here? I don't want to be in a fantasy world anymore..."

This was death. What if she didn't come back this time? What if she'd wasted her second chance on some girl? Why did this have to happen to her? As her vision went black due to her tears stabbing her eyes, she only had thoughts of hate towards the first person she could blame. She didn't feel pain anymore.

In that pitch-black void, the only thing left was her consciousness. She couldn't feel anymore, for her entire body was now ice.

"I should have ran away. It's all her fault. Her fault her fault her fault h-"

Unable to withstand the pressure anymore, her consciousness disappeared. Her body shattered, finally. The woman that had once been Natsuki Subaru died as a red-haired swordsman descended from the sky.

For the second time, Natsuki Subaru met her horrible end.

Massive thanks to Bob Doorman for helping with this, words cannot describe how useful his help is.