My entry for the WHDAA nightmare contest… That got canceled since my fic was the only one in it.
Yes this is a WHDAA spin-off
KNIGHTMARE (ONESHOT)
The great screen dims until it fades completely to black, the viewing of arc three is finally over. Those were the words said by the warden just moments ago, now the cast was mostly discussing what they've seen in the theatre.
"That was really great, Natsuki-san is indeed incredible." stated the green merchant to his blond friend who was making exaggerated moves to imitate what they saw moments ago.
"YEAH! Cap'n 'd get his perfect endin'." Responded Garfiel, remembering the last scene they saw. How Subaru and Emilia were on that hill talking about their feelings.
"Maybe I should ask Cap'n how t' get closer t' Ram." wondered the blond boy.
Poor Garfiel, Natsuki-san is a master of doing the impossible but that… That might be the biggest challenge he ever faced. Otto thought while giving some generic response to avoid hurting his friend.
Most of the cast were in high spirits, talking about Arc three's ending. However, there was one certain red-haired knight who was not in the right mood for the situation, but obviously he would not bother anyone with this so he kept his perfect smile.
Staring blankly at the joyful conversation between friends, Reinhard was absorbed deeply in his thoughts, barely hearing what was being said.
Until he blocked a foot that almost hit his face.
"Why are ya with such a ridiculous expression? Cheer up and stop thinking about whatever you're wondering about, I know it can't be good." Reprimanded the angry blond candidate.
"I'm sorry Felt-sama, I did not intend on making you worried."
"UGH.. How many times do I need to tell you to stop apologizing for everything!" Responded the girl while trying to punch him but once again having her attack effortlessly blocked.
After a few more blocked blows and some more complaining from his mistress, Reinhard finally took the courage to ask for a simple favor.
"Felt-sama, I feel quite exhausted, may I take my leave?" Asked the troubled knight.
"Tch, go get some rest then, but make sure to talk to me if anything is wrong. I'll stay here a bit longer, gotta talk with big sister alone anyway." Said Felt trying to hide her concern with her knight. That was not normal.
That bastard never asked for anything like that, normally he would bother me with his 'knightly presence' until I went to sleep. I will have to talk with this red-haired idiot later. Wondered the "totally not concerned" red-eyed girl.
Felt was not the only one watching the red-haired knight walking out of the theatre. A violet-haired man and a cat boy noticed their friend leaving alone with his head low.
Sadly both of them could not talk to him without drawing unwanted attention to their friend. They knew he prefered to stay alone for now, but they would surely talk to him later about whatever was on his mind.
After watching Subaru's journey up to arc three both knights decided that they had to be better friends. They would help both Subaru and Reinhard learn to value themselves more.
Now alone in his designated room Reinhard felt that he was finally allowed to lose the rest of the composure he was desperately trying to maintain.
He immediately fell to one knee, and brought his hands to his face, deeply ashamed of his uselessness.
Where was I? While everyone was fighting the monster who helped me kill my grandmother and a foul archbishop of the witch cult. WHERE WAS I? THAT WAS MY DUTY, THE POWER I KILLED MY GRANDMOTHER FOR, yet.. yet I was unable to do anything again. Cried the sword saint deep in his disturbed mind. He felt as if his soul was breaking slowly and he could not pick the pieces back up.
The broken knight slowly got up and threw himself in his bed, face down against his pillow he felt all his strength leaving his body as exhaustion took its place.
"I'm powerful but I'm no hero, I'm just a farce. I have all this power, all this talent and yet I'm incapable of doing half of what Subaru has done." Reinhard spoke, making sure his voice was muffled by the pillow. Even alone he was somewhat scared of anyone seeing him like this.
Slowly, his consciousness faded, leaving space for a single thought before he entered the world of dreams where hopefully he could find the peace he needed so much.
Could I ever become a hero? A hero like him?
It was a beautiful day in the Astrea mansion, the clean blue sky, the birds singing, the happy trio training together.
Heinkel and a young Reinhard were sparring under the supervision of Wilhelm. The latter would show a faint smile everytime that Reinhard defended one of Heinkel strikes.
"Raise your sword more and tilt it by forty five degrees, that way you won't have to withstand the full power of the blow. Your opponent is stronger, therefore you should favor deflecting instead of parrying." Said the old knight in a teaching tone.
Heinkel who was nowhere near to fighting seriously with his own son, could only smile and strike with a third of his strength once again.
This time Reinhard was not able to keep his balance and fell on his buttocks.
"Ouch! If only I was stronger!" Complained, the young knight in training.
"Oh... And which one of us would you kill this time?" Asked Wilhelm this time with a disgusted expression.
Reinhard could only look up dumbfounded. What is his grandfather talking about?
"Did you forget my beloved son? To get stronger you killed your own grandmother without a second thought. You even destroyed your own family." Said Heinkel, his appearance no longer reassembled the proud knight he was just moments ago. Now he was a broken man, a complete disgrace.
"And even after all that you are still a useless brat, did you kill my wife just to mock me? Did you hate us that much? Or are you just a MONSTER that had fun hurting your own kin?" The senior knight questioned his grandson with red eyes and spit flying everywhere.
"No... I-" The poor red-haired kid could not even form a proper phrase at this point.
"If you just could just disappear, I'm sure it would be for the better. You are just a monster pretending to be a hero anyway." Concluded his now very drunk father.
Reinhard could no longer withstand the pain and started to run away with his head low. He did not realise but his surroundings changed completely into a green landscape.
He stumbled on something ahead of him and fell to the ground once again. When he opened his eyes again, it was as if hell itself had come to punish him.
His grandmother Theresia was standing right in front of him.
That was only when he realised the bodies of soldiers that were all around them. Reinhard's eyes paralized completely when a huge shadow passed through the area.
It took him all the courage he had to look up. There far up in the sky there was a huge silhouette flying around.
"The white whale…" He said, barely making a sound. He was petrified to see a monster just like him.
"Reinhard dear, is that you?" Asked the red-haired woman as she approached her grandson.
The moment Theresia touched the red-haired boy's shoulder she let out a loud shriek.
Reinhard could only watch in horror as his beloved grandmother let her sword fall from her hands and fell to her knees right after.
"Why Reinhard? Why did you betray me? You took my blessing just to become this pathetic false hero while a powerless boy does your job. You are a disappointment, REINHARD YOU ARE A MONSTER PRETENDING TO BE HUMAN." Screamed the weakened woman.
The young knight was now crying and holding himself with his arms, he could no longer maintain his sword saint facade. Not when facing the very core of all his anguish.
"I'M SORRY! I never wanted this, you were always the superior sword saint. All that I ever wanted was-"
Just before he could finally lay his heart bare to the person he needed the most, a huge torrent of fog came down from the sky hitting Theresia and throwing the red-haired knight away.
When he got up again the landscape was no longer a green hill but a barren wasteland. His grandmother was nowhere to be found.
He barely had time to realise he was no longer in his childish form but now he was in his normal young adult appearance.
That's when a mysterious silhouette appeared in the fog. By what he could see of the mysterious figure was that it was mostly likely a man.
Even though the man was only ten steps away from the knight his features were still shrouded in an unnatural way by the fog. His aura was terrifying enough to leave the sword saint on high alert.
Reinhard brought his hand to his hip only to realize he did not have a weapon. The dragon sword Reid was not the most reliable sword but at least it was there, this was the first time Reinhard felt truly powerless.
"Looking for this youngling?" Mocked the man while showing the dragon sword that reinhard wished he had.
Reinhard was shocked, yet seeing the sword on the man's hand felt more natural than it ever was on his own.
"Could you be… No… No one outside of the Astrea family should be able to wield it. How did you steal my sword?" Asked Reinhard with his hands shaking.
"Your sword? This was never your sword, I left this gift for the next generation of heroes to use. Not for people like you to taint my legacy." Spat the angry figure.
"You are… Reid Astrea…" The young man trembled at the realisation that the very definition of chivalry made flesh and bone was just ahead of him.
To Reinhard, Reid Astrea was an example, a goal to achieve. The man was a legend, the most noble of knights and the hero Reinhard always wanted to be.
But of course he would also disappoint him, The red-haired youth was a monster after all.
"Your sins cant go unpunished! You are no hero and it's about time to let go of the facade. It's time to let a true hero rise up and take his rightful place." Said Reid while getting into an attack ready pose.
"I-" Reinhard did not have the strength to deny his worlds, he was the one in the wrong, he was a monster and the job of a hero was to kill monsters.
"I understand…" with these last words the world itself was split into two and all that was left was an endless white void.
The world started to make sense again, the colors slowly came back to form the urban scenery around the young knight.
With his conscience slowly coming back, Reinhard could only look at himself in awe.
"I'm alive… But I feel different… There is something missing."
That's when he realised he was in the slums during nighttime. Suddenly he remembered why he was there.
"Oh yes, this is… Lady Emilia and Felt-sama need my help!"
Reinhard ran as fast as he could through the narrow alleys, he had to save both candidates, it was his duty as the sword saint.
He barged in slamming the door of the old loot house only to find that the battle was almost over.
Old man Rom was in the ground and Felt was bleeding on the corner using the walls to support herself. The only one still standing was Emilia, but she was already faltering due to her many bruises.
The bowel hunter was right in the middle of the room with a vicious smile contrasting with her beautiful body. She held two bloodied kukris.
"That's enough fiend! Surrender and you might receive mercy." Announced Reinhard.
"Eh? Who are y-"
Before Emilia could even finish her question Elsa had jumped in Reinhard's direction.
He had readied himself to counter attack but…
Before he could do anything the bowel hunter had struck him with a powerful kick sending him flying away and slamming against a nearby wall.
Luckily for him Emilia was able to force Elsa to back away or she would've finished Reinhard right there.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Can't you see that this is dangerous?" Asked a very distraught Emilia.
"La-lady Emilia you're inju-red please sta-y behind me, protecting the royal candi-dates is my prio-rity as the sword sai-nt." Stated the red-haired knight placing himself ahead of the silver-haired princess and forcing his words out against the will of his protesting lungs.
"Sword saint? Again, what are you talkin-"
Before Emilia could finish her sentence, once again Elsa attacked, forcing the girl to push Reinhard away to protect him and taking the attack in his place.
Raising himself from the ground he could only watch in terror as the candidate slowly fell to the ground holding her now slashed stomach.
That's when he finally realised, what Reid had cut was not his body but his Divine Protections. Reinhard was no longer the sword saint; He was now just another ordinary human incapable of defending others against a high level threat like Elsa.
Not only that, his stupidity led Emilia to her demise. He did not only fail them, he caused their destruction just like what he has done in his household.
"Ah her guts are sooo pretty, Thank you for helping me, I could barely contain myself to see her like this." The crazed killer had an aroused expression on her face while looking at Emilia's entrails as she thanked Reinhard without looking away, not for a single second.
Suddenly she changed her focus to the last standing survivor in the room.
"Since you were such a good boy, here is your reward!" Joked the killer playfully while approaching the knight with a sensual smile.
That's when a light came from the outside destroying the wall and engulfing The bowel hunter before she had a chance to do anything about it.
Reinhard instinctively had to protect his eyes from burning using his arms, leaving him without the chance to hold onto anything to prevent himself from being blasted away.
Once again forcing his body back up from the cold floor and this time needing the extra effort to remove rubble that was burning him, the ex sword saint looked around in awe.
Amidst the broken loot house there was a single figure with an imposing presence, a black-haired figure using a black and orange version of the formal knight attire.
"Fear not for the awesome Sword Saint is here!" Said the black-haired boy.
Reinhard could not even move due to the shock of what just happened and because of what he just heard.
"Su-Subaru…" The red-haired knight muttered for himself.
Now properly looking around his surroundings Subaru realised the amount of victims in the place. He quickly brought all three into a cleaner part of the loot house.
"Oi you, yes you, come over here!" Subaru called.
The black-haired sword saint watched as the weird red-haired man looked around in worry as if trying to make sure he was safe.
"She's gone, the renowned sword saint would never let someone dangerous like her escape. Too many innocent lives would be at risk."
Reinhard felt more confident to get closer, only to get even more shocked when he saw the trio completely healed.
Noticing the Red-haired man expression Subaru decided to give him an explanation:
"I used my power to heal them, don't worry they are already out of danger. So are you injured or something? I can heal you too if you want, I'm a hero after all.
"Subaru… it's me… Reinhard your friend..." Said the knight still trying to understand what was going on, hoping that his friend had an explanation.
"Friend? Yes, I know only one man that could be so useless in a situation like this, long time no see Reinhard." Responded Subaru with a devious smile.
Doing his best to ignore what he just heard, the fire-haired youth did his best to keep the conversation going.
"Subaru, I'm sorry because of me… lady Emilia got-" Reinhard tried to apologize about his mistake but was interrupted by subaru.
"Don't worry my friend I always knew you were useless, there is no way anyone could depend on you." Said Subaru in a condescending tone.
Hearing something like that, especially from his friend, was more devastating to Reinhard than any insult. No one had faith in him, but could he blame them? Who would put their faith in a monster… ex-monster.
Subaru was clearly doing a better job at being a hero than he ever did, what was his purpose then? Did he exist just to hurt those around him? Why was he chosen by the sword god when he was a clear failure from the start?
WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?
"Wait."
Innumerous flashes of memories from the moments he spent with Subaru and even the viewings in the theatre. From his deaths to his heroic moments. All led to a single conclusion from Reinhard.
Closing his eyes the young knight decided to fight against his own mind "This… THIS IS NOT REAL! Subaru would never… Never say something like this. He is a true HERO after all!"
Opening his eyes again he realised everything around him had vanished, all that was left was an endless white void. That and…
"Yo, Reinhard. Took you a while huh? Welcome back." Said the black-haired boy rubbing his head sheepishly.
Finally bringing a smile back into his face for what seemed to be an endless night, Reinhard felt his body getting much lighter.
"Hello Subaru. it's good to be back." The most powerful man in the world was almost crying.
Both friends stood in the empty space just looking at each other and smiling until…
"Well uh.. You're an idiot, you know that right?" Joked the mean-eyed boy.
"Haha, Felt-sama does her best to always remind me."
"Good for you! Then be a good knight and never forget that!"
"Ehh." Reinhard was unsure on how to respond to that.
"Look, I know I'm not good with promises, but you are right?" Questioned the mean-eyed boy with a arguably evil grin to go along with his mean eyes.
"Yes, as the sword saint I must be a man of my word." Reinhard stated this fact by straightening his position and bringing his right arm to his chest.
"Good, then promise me you will do your best to value yourself, YOU RED-HAIRED IMBECILE." The youth screamed from the top of his lungs.
"But-" Reinhard tried to interject but was interrupted by Subaru.
"No, no "buts". You are an awesome hero! You keep calling yourself a monster, but that's not what you are! You are always apologizing for no reason and dear god even your nightmares are fucking boring because of that." Subaru was complaining while making exaggerated moves with his arms to infatuate his point.
"You don't get to be like that, you're an awesome knight and just for you to know, You're my hero! Without you I would've never been able to save Emilia and Felt from that bizarre assassin!" The black-haired boy was getting more agitated by the second.
"So what if you had a bad childhood? Let me tell you a little secret: Most people that we both know had as well! Emilia, Felt, Anastasia and fuck even Priscilla I guess. You don't get to be that sour and annoying without having a shitty childhood, I'm telling you!" Subaru cracked a joke to stop his momentum, or he would end up exploding with his own nervousness.
Taking deep breaths to finally calm himself down Subaru was ready to lay his heart bare.
"You gotta focus on the present and the future! Not the past."
"Look what I'm trying to say is… Don't feel so alone, you have people to hear you. I know you want to help me with all the shit I've been through, but... I prefer that we help each other."
"That's what means to be friends, right?" Subaru questioned, signaling the end of his speech.
Reinhard had his eyes wide open, never he heard something like that before. He felt so happy that he might really cry.
"yeah I guess, that's indeed what it means to be friends." Responded the red-haired man with a real genuine smile.
Slowly the space around them started to crack.
"Well I guess that's all I can do for you, for now." Subaru spoke with sadness in his voice.
"You already did a lot, you did enough. Next time it's my turn to help you, I promise." Responded the still very happy sword saint.
"Well you better! Don't make me appear in your dreams again just to charge you for it!" Said the black-haired youth loudly to make sure his words were well heard by his friends before their time was truly over.
Now everything was fading away and Reinhard consciousness was being ripped away from the dream world.
Reinhard opened his eyes, not with the despair of someone who woke from a nightmare but with the calmness of someone who woke up from the best dream of his life.
Smiling for no reason other than just being happy the red-haired knight spoke to himself with a new found confidence:
"You're a real friend Subaru, a true hero. Even in our dreams you come to save those you deem as your friends."
IT 'S DONE!
I really wanted to do something about Reinhard's psyche and have Subaru help him somehow.
Before anyone asks: No I don't intend on making it a series. fuck I can barely keep up with my single ongoing fic.
But I guess I will sometimes do some oneshots.
AS USUAL THANK TO ALL THOSE HE BOTHERED TO BETA MY STUFF, SPECIALLY - OGimblyO