"C'mon, Beako!" She was being as silent as she was with everybody around.

"I have nothing that needs saying right now, I suppose." Beatrice continued softly, "Now either read with me or stop being a nuisance."

"It'll make you feel better~"

"How Betty feels right now matters little and less." Beatrice flipped to the next page of a book she definitely wasn't reading. "Subaru… you're staring. Betty can tell, I suppose."

"I'm reading, I am!" Beatrice creased the pages, clenching the book in her hands. Subaru snuggled the top of her head. "Alright, alright... I'm worried about you," he muttered. "You're the only one I haven't had one-on-one time with!" Except… the obvious. "I-I suppose."

"Heh, now who's being facetious?"

Subaru resisted falling for their dynamic's shtick. "There's gotta be something you wanna get off your chest, now that we're alone. Come on. Talk to me." Subaru nuzzled his face and hers, to Betty's vocal annoyance. " Talk-to-me~"

"What are you insinuating that I would have to say?" Betty asked, her words smushed as their cheeks rubbed.

"Something undignified, if we're being consistent. The kinda thing that'd make you wet my shirt with snot and tears. Again."

"Hmph! I haven't bawled in over a year, I suppose! You're being too conceited, Your Grace."

"She says as she lies to my face."

"He says, the one riding the high of his greatest dream coming true."

"Ouch, bullseye."

"I am your Great Spirit Beatrice, in fact," she chided him gently.

"And that's the perfect segway into my original point—"

"You're being way too needy, in fact!" Betty snapped. Subaru almost felt hurt, hot with embarrassment, but it cooled at the sight of the small girl's own coloring her ears. "The others will return with breakfast momentarily, I suppose. Just... be with me, if you'd like the two of us to feel better. That's what Betty wants most right now, in fact."

There was no arguing against that. "So, the usual?"

"Normalcy, I suppose."

This wasn't going anywhere. "Well, if you insist." Subaru squeezed his arms around her tight. Rather than grunt, she hooked her arms around his with an exhale. "Hey, it's no fun if you're enjoying it."

Betty scoffed softly. "You really are a masochist."

"So says the abusive one in this marriage."

"What a repulsive notion. I'm telling Emily, I suppose."

Might as well end this with the real point. "Alright. Fine. I'm already in it deep, might as well commit."

"S-Subaru?" Betty was taken aback by his shift in tone.

"We're committing adultery now, Beako. You and I are partners in crime."

"S-stop being weird!" She squirmed halfheartedly. "Quit messing with Betty's head!"

"As my lady commands. But I promise… I promise on our contract that I'll tell you everything." Beatrice's face snapped up to the ceiling, her pretty eyes locking on Subaru, wide. "About the things you forgot," he continued. "The things I've done to us that hurt you… so much. Too much, Beako—to the point where it makes me sick." So many Beatrices, crying over Subaru's dying body; betrayed by his refusal to accept Emilia was dead, or Petra, or some other person clenched within his greedy grasp. Subaru gave a start as fingers brushed his jawline, leaving a warm, damp chill in its wake; and his name, riding the tiniest voice imaginable. Pinpricks of fingertips, stroking his cheek, were squeezed tight in his hand, against Betty's chest. You'll probably hate me, but… for all those Beatrices' sake, you have the right to know. It was the best Subaru could manage for his own courage, reminding why he wanted to utter this at all. "I try not to think about it. Any of it. But when I'm with you, I… I remember. I obsess over it. So, I promise, Beatrice... I promise I'll pay for all the hearts of yours I'd broken to get here. I won't be afraid anymore. And hopefully, you won't either."

"Betty isn't scared, I suppose." Her voice was so tiny, even smaller than the fist free and balling around her cloak's tie. "If you insist, I... I'll listen here and should you have something to say."

And yet, she also wished to read; she also wanted normalcy. Subaru shook his head. "It's just something selfish. Penance, punishment, whatever. Call it whatever. I just don't wanna feel this wall between us anymore."

"Th-there is no wall between us, I suppose!" Even without her verbal tic, the wobble of Betty's words made for a weak defense. "Subaru," murmured Beatrice, squeezing her eyes shut before facing the empty sofa across from them, "Subaru, this isn't what I asked: this teasing, it isn't what Betty wants to hear right now, I suppose." The shaking fist in his grip, Subaru took their arms and eased them around Betty's torso.

"I… I love you." He spoke as if realizing this, but Subaru was only surprised with his bravery. "I love you, Beatrice."

"Subaru!" Betty spun within their embrace, burying herself in his cotton button-down. "Subaru…"

Her face was wet and warm; Subaru bit back the hope of knowing the thoughts behind it. One day at a time, he reminded himself. For both of us, especially.

The door clicking and whining open behind them brought the pair looking past Subaru's shoulder. Beatrice, her apathetic mask donned with a sheen glossing her cheeks, frowned further as she asked, "And just how long have you been eavesdropping, demon-maid?"

Subaru's gut dropped in contrast to the genuine smile that adorned itself. "Hey, there, Rem." Just her appearance lifted a weight he didn't know was there.

The maid bowed at the waist. "I didn't want to intrude." She straightened up, redder in the face. "And… I couldn't help myself from listening, I just…"

"Worried?" Subaru guessed.

Rem shuffled, failing to hide her blush with such dainty fingers. "And also I… I've missed you, Subaru."

Beatrice sighed before falling through the slack in Subaru's hold, landing on her feet without a thump. "I'll be in our room. Betty's return shall be swift should Subaru feel any distress," she added as she strolled past the maid, Rem bowing in apology, gratitude, and respect.

It was happening too fast, and Rem—and him and Beatrice were having a moment, too. "Beatrice, wait—!" Subaru rose from the sofa, reaching over it.

In the doorway, his spirit smiled, in-part kindness but mostly conceit. "You were saying you wanted this before. Now's the chance to have your moment with this poor girl."

"I didn't mean to intrude, Lady Beatrice," said Rem. "I-I can always wait, I don't mind."

That sounded like the old Rem, though. "Wait, it's okay—" Subaru caught himself saying that to Beatrice. "I mean…"

The Great Spirit smiled with a huff of laughter before looking up to Rem. "Your intrusion doesn't bother Betty, I suppose, maid. But Betty is accustomed to waiting, as is Subaru." Smirk fading, her eyes flitted between the two with much emotion, too much for Subaru to parcel out the cause before saying, "Be careful, you two." With that, Beatrice fled from the doorway without a book.

Rem stammered soundlessly between her vacancy and Subaru. "I feel like the bad guy." She made half the journey to the couch before some invisible force held her back—the very same Subaru felt between him and Beatrice. "O-oh, um, breakfast will be ready soon. I just… came to tell you that. That's all."

"Sure, sure. You're not, by the way." Subaru forced a laugh, patting the cushion beside him. "The 'bad guy.' Take a seat with me, Rem. Let's have our moment."

Rem exhaled. "I can see you're not giving me an option, Your Grace," she said as her skirt brushed Subaru's pant leg, seating herself with a faint blush and even softer smile.

Rem had long concluded the obvious, as far as the truth about Subaru's behavior was concerned. That is to say, she understood what drove him to give up and run away that time in the capital. Rem dismissed it as a facet of her anxiety, and then luck; all while avoiding Subaru's eyes. She professed to attributing his uncanny knowledge of the Witch Cult's attack as being because of the miasma—as a former member (not that she judged the man he was in the former present, Rem was frantic to reassure).

She didn't need to, and yet, Rem apologized without explaining why, again and again. She shouldn't be the one saying sorry.

Subaru bared it all, or as much as he could manage. How, once upon a time, Subaru lied and faked his behavior for a number of reasons: sympathy, fear, submission, resignation. He was caught and criticized, rightfully so, by a genuine madman who deemed him "slothful." It was like his gaping eyes saw all the worlds that Subaru had left behind to that point, the truth of his character therein. Even to this day, it filled Subaru with boiling-hot shame.

For once upon a time, Subaru lied and faked his behavior for a number of reasons—reasons that got others killed, numerous times, including…

"I'm not surprised." She ran her fingers down the back of his head. "I've already forgiven you."

Subaru choked back his emotions, smothering them in Rem's skirt.

"I truly forgive you, Subaru."

"M'sorry… m'so, so sorry!"

"And I'm sorry for making your first week here such a misery."

Did she have Betelgeuse's insight? Shocked, Subaru lifted his face to find Rem's smiling. Shakily. "Rem, you… y-you never—" 'Killed me,' he was about to stupidly blurt out, had Rem not reached out to cradle his face.

"I was shallow. And hateful. I can't imagine I was kind, at the very least."

"Rem, you were traumatized, a-and I—!"

"Are no better than me." Not "were."

Rem was too good, so good that Subaru couldn't stand it. "But I was such—!" he gasped. "A complete jackass—! "

"You're no better than me, Subaru." Her hand was gentle on his cheek, like Rem knew Subaru was glass beneath all his muscle and bluster.

"But you were never that bad—!"

She shushed him, finger pressing his lips. "So in your mind, deep down, you consider yourself of a lower quality than I." Rem huffed at her own conclusion, then sighed. "Seems the shoe is on the other foot, now. Even though we've saved one another a handful of times in the face of countless failures of our own."

"N-no! Rem," Subaru breathed, taking her hands tightly, "this isn't like that. I don't hate myself! Not anymore! I don't!"

"Then, Subaru…" Rem's eyes twinkled with so much life and love—even three years later it was sobering to see, a blessing to know. "Why are you punishing yourself? Over mistakes the you of back then had no power to prevent?"

"H-hey, that's—"

"One of my favorite things you ever said to me," Rem giggled sweetly. "Once again, the words I needed to hear most—in light of my choppy return to history, in the middle of a drama between you and Miss Emilia, and Sister and Lord Roswaal, too."

Though it took many tries on top of the physical calamities happening concurrently—many tries for Subaru to break Rem's heart, and any hopes that he would eventually choose her over Emilia. Too many. It took too many lives to get that right; even in the flawless history of modern Lugnica, Garf deemed the fiasco a, quote, "Fuckin' mess." Very apt, though it almost cost him an ear at Frederica's hands. The run was still perfect, though; even with the siblings' bickering—Subaru couldn't have asked for a better tension breaker.

"I guess I should take my own words to heart for once, huh?" Subaru mused, taking the opportunity to prove it as he rose to his feet, sat himself by Rem's side. "Still hurts, though—knowing the things you went through because of me..."

"Healing is a slow, tedious process, Subaru." Soft, blue hair laid against Subaru's shoulder and cheek. "I'm not expecting, nor demanding you, to change overnight. I don't think anybody is. We just want you to embrace it."

"Even though I… even though I'm no different now than the time you stopped me from running?"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken in your self-assessment, Subaru. For one, you've become the most awesome hero this world has ever known, as promised."

Subaru cringed. Not for having said that—as Rem wasn't wrong in the eyes of the country—but because of the reality. "Rem, all those feats were—"

"Built upon the struggles, sweat, and tears you endured to save the ones you love, and stamp out evil." Rem's eyes popped open, beautiful and blue, gazing up at Subaru. "Even if their proof cannot be seen, we—all of us—have proof enough in the man before us against the boy we first met. Now, hush, sweet Subaru; I'll have no more downplaying of your awesomeness. I may not seem like the type, but I'm actually a fairly big fan of my king and hero, Subaru Natsuki; I would defend him vehemently."

"I know you would."

Rem lifted herself off his shoulder, brows furrowed. "Mind you, I didn't say that I'd die for you. I wouldn't wish to put you through that agony, not ever again."

Subaru felt himself smile instantly. "I said, 'I know you would.'" He crossed his legs, stretched his arms across the sofa, behind Rem's shoulders in a side hug. "And you would also 'defend vehemently…' Emilia, and Beatrice. And Petra, Frederica, Garf and Otto, too… Meili, and all the children who call you 'the nicer maid-twin' on top of that."

Rem giggled into her hand, sidling warmly against Subaru's side. "Yes. I love my life, more than I ever had before or thought possible. It's rich with experience, memories, and full of wonderful people, and you. Us." She took Subaru's hand in hers, rested them on her apron. "I love our friendship. With just a few words, or a little bit of contact," she said, squeezing his fingers, "we can communicate, in a way no one else, not even the queen, can imagine. It's… special."

"It is."

"It's nice," she asserted.

"I love it, too, Rem."

"In trying to assuage my deepest fears, I can tell what you're trying to hide. And in relenting now, I know, Subaru, that you can tell I understand everything." Did she, though? "There's no need for word games, or hiding our emotions. In a way, you and I are too honest with one another for our own good."

Yeah, she gets it. Subaru chuckled. "You got that right."

Rem tittered. Subaru assumed she understood.

Breakfast was had, the four maids back from carrying the buffet's remains to the kitchen. Apparently, they (Frederica and Rem, for sure) have been hauling the last several meals up and down the stairwell on a cart they left outside. They didn't have to go so far, not when Subaru felt "together enough," as he put it, to be able to eat in the dining hall with the rest of the castle staff. Frederica would hear none of it, however, and Subaru couldn't bring himself to spoil her way of caring any further.

Not when he couldn't bring himself to enjoy much of their efforts, his appetite pinned under three (four) years worth of betrayals. Rem was easy, but…

But…

Subaru was starting to hate even his own tears; not only selfish, they were offensive to those who suffered more. Had to be. Right? Petra and Emilia dismissed his guilt like it was nothing; he should be happy. Overjoyed. Not depressed and a downer. Is this the rest of my life? Subaru wondered as the maids rejoined the group. A pity party that never ends? Emilia asserted "one day at a time," and similarly before, Rem reminded of his friends' hopes for their king.

But still.

Still.

Still, it was the real Subaru they were seeing, coddling. This had to be getting on Ram's nerves and Garf's; Meili's, at least, who said even less than Beatrice did earlier in the twenty-four hours of Return by Death being out in the open.

"Subaru." His name was uttered gently; by Emilia, for the first time today after their awkward conversation at the crack of dawn—the one about "that checkpoint." Emilia squeezed his hand, at some point their fingers entangled while the idle chatter of their friends flowed. Relaxed, with Subaru not in the spotlight. "You've been quiet, Subaru. Is everything alright?"

He grinned without needing to think, without needing to spoil the atmosphere. "Nah, I'm fine. Just enjoying the moment."

Emilia knitted her brows. "Fine, I'll change the question: how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good!" he chirped. "Don't mind me." Rem, squeezed within the final potshots fired between Ram and Garf, watched from the corner of Subaru's eye; there was no getting around these guys. "Alright, fine. Maybe I'm feeling… I dunno. Kinda useless?"

"What? How even?" Garf groaned, as if tired of this. It was clear, now, after riding this merry-go-round several times in the last twenty-four hours, that Subaru's pity complex shouldn't be a thing as far as he was concerned. Like he was an idiot for feeling so guilty.

Subaru shrugged in defeat. "Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. It's just, now that I've cried my eyes out, I feel like all I can really do is complain to you guys. With an asterisked 'please believe me, please' at the end of every 'woe is me—'"

"Subaru."

"Y'know?" he chuckled,

"You've died, Subaru." Emilia's bangs hid her gaze from view, not that Subaru blamed her if intentional. "Un-understand?" She gripped him so tight she shook, even though her grip couldn't be any tighter. "You've died. "

"Huh? Ye-yeah, I'm aware—"

"You've suffered…" Emilia breathed in, exhaled; in, and out, "you suffered the kind of pain every other person is lucky enough to only live through once. Countless times, Subaru, you've suffered it…" Actually, there was an exact number, but Petra shifted uncomfortably between Frederica and a bored Meili, unable to maintain eye-contact with Subaru since their private moment earlier. Emilia maybe didn't want to know that, too. "Are you hurting right now? Are you in any pain, still, outside of your nightmares?"

Subaru didn't want to suggest that he might be like this forever. "No way! With you guys, I'm happy as can be! Honest!" That was the truth.

"Subaru…" A warning tone. And those eyes on him, because of him—not just Emilia, but eight more pairs, even with Beatrice on his lap facing the adjacent sofa, her nose in a book on PTSD after wartime.

"Emilia, I've genuinely got nothing to hide by this point. My nightmares are just bad memories, nothing more!"

"Don't write off your trauma so flippantly, Subaru."

There it was again—the "t-word." The self-righteous, holier-than-thou "t-word" he adorned his past deaths with to justify feeling sorry for himself. "Mili, I haven't got a scratch on me. You can have my word as your husband! My dreams aren't anything to complain about more than once—"

"'Complaining,'" Emilia sneered, "is the very least you deserve. I… I insist you complain, darling husband. I'll be here by your side, to listen or to talk or… cry. Emilia Natsuki shall stand beside Subaru Natsuki until the natural end of his days. I can promise you that, if not freedom from your pain." Her thumb, stroking his, curled around it tight.

This was a lot. For everybody, and Subaru. "Okay." He wished a small part of him didn't regret telling them. "Okay, fine. Just stop me if it gets too annoying. I'd gladly stop."

"Tragically for us, Barasu lacks on 'off switch.'" Ram smirked, crossing her arms and legs.

"Ram! Everyone—please be a little more sensitive!" Emilia's purple eyes were firm, equal parts determination and love. "After everything he's done for us, Subaru has the right to feel however he wants!"

Bold Emilia will never not get Subaru hot under the collar. "Y-you're making this sound so serious, Mili—! "

"But you've died!" Emilia strangled his hand. "You've died… For us ."

"Emilia—"

"You've died..." She left his hand cold altogether, her fingers lacing against her chest, face down. "You died, Subaru. You died again and again and stomached so much agony, and I can't help but ask myself just how many were because of—!"

A snarl from Ram, hissing throatily and demonically over Emilia, cut her short. "Actually listen to the man, woman." 'Stop making Barasu bellyache,' was what she was too tsundere to say. Probably.

"I'm sorry." The maid's queen gasped wetly, eyes wide towards the ceiling. "Sorry… I love you, Subaru, and let's leave it at that. That's all I wanted to say. I don't want you to be afraid of me, of what I'll say. Never, Subaru. Never ever. That's all."

Subaru wondered if she sensed how little he's told her about their past lives compared to most everyone else in the room. He gathered every ounce of courage preserved to face down death. "What else did you wanna say, Mili?"

"S-Subaru? N-no, it's okay. I have so many questions…"

"And I'm here to answer them."

Emilia shook her head. "No. They can wait. There's too many I want to know, desperately, here and now," she hastily explained. "Questions I don't ever want answered that must be— have to be—if we're to ever move forward as a family again." So she felt it, too: the divide, the gap, their difference in experiences Otto warned of.

Otto, who coughed into his hand, only to smile sympathetically once Subaru met his eyes. He felt it, too. They must all feel it, in one form or another.

"Jeez, Mili," Subaru chuckled, emotion roughing up his voice, "I just got done crying, and now you're gonna get me going again!"

"Indeed. Any more would be most egregious by this point." The snobby little voice was like a pair of wings for the soul; Subaru almost couldn't believe he was relishing Beatrice's detachment from her own feelings. "Please don't get Subaru started up, Emily. I would hate for him to get sloppy all over Betty again, I suppose." Emilia gave a titter, then another, and Subaru wanted to high five Beako then and there.

"Um!" grunted Rem. "Subaru can get as sloppy as he likes, for Sister so wisely and empathetically procured several fresh cleaning linens for the occasion." Petra muttered something about Frederica asking Ram to carry "something, anything," to Meili's amusement—loud enough for Garf to guffaw. Seems Petra was on Subaru's page as well, for Emilia hid her amusement behind both hands.

"That was sweet of her," said the queen. "But, Rem, Subaru and I weren't fighting or anything." Emilia sighed, perceiving the attempted levity. "This is just how he and I tend to convey our… more complicated sentiments for one another."

Actually not inaccurate, Subaru realized. Nice cover, Mili.

Ram broke through with an, "Inappropriate. To parade and flaunt your unhealthy marriage before your private court—"

"Miss Ram?" All eyes, and Ram's mild surprise, were on Otto, who coolly wiggled his fingers with the words, "Let's keep the hostility down to five, yeah? We're all a bit on-edge, not just you."

Ram's silent, statuesque glaring was spoiled by Garfiel's large hand, practically jerking her by the head as he tussled her hair. "Even Big Bro Otto's gotcha tamed, Ram!"

She took his arm and threw it off so hard that Garf twisted around the sofa, yowling. "I will end eight of your lives and leave the last for Barasu to worry about."

Garfiel resettled, gloved hand massaging his thrown shoulder. "Jeez! Talk about a sour mood, bitch. Tasteless, much?"

If Garf was noticing it now, it definitely wasn't Subaru's anxiety seeing shadows move—this really did bother Ram, a lot. And yet, she earlier dismissed the offer for a one-on-one before jumping on the lunch cleanup. Perhaps she actually needed it, curt dismissals be damned. Not that forcing Ram was ever the way to reach her.

"I'm just sayin'," Garf continued, an argument with his old flame that continued outside Subaru's mulling, "if you're gonna joke, then read the room for friggin' once."

"And you were snarling at me for doubting Barasu's masculinity?" Ram asked, combing her short, pink hair back to its perfect perm as Rem set her hairband straight. "As I expected, you were unfortunately unfazed by my joke, Barasu. I don't see what all this fuss is about."

"What? You wanted me to be triggered?"

"I just wanted to get a sense of how bad you were," Ram answered as if it were something mundane.

"And? What's the diagnosis, Doc Ram?"

She adjusted a pair of invisible glasses. "Three years of unique mental scarring. And a lifetime guarantee of idiocy."

"Well, at least I try to change." Subaru kept smirking as he picked Beatrice up, plopping her between Emilia and Frederica before she could object. "Ram, what's with this tension over a lot of us? Some of you got nothin' to say, yet you're all acting like this. I mean, I haven't even heard a word from Meili or Frederica yet, not to mention you or Beatrice." To this announcement, the respective girls' backs stiffened in a needlessly on-edge fashion. "C'mon, share with the class. Unless you're scared?" he sneered.

"Hiding behind cheap jokes?" Ram sneered back. "Barasu must also be on edge if old habits—"

"Yeah, yeah, and the pot calls the kettle full circle." As hoped, Ram pouted at her stolen thunder.

Rem tittered in her fist. "Must you two always make it a battle for the spotlight in times like these?" She sighed heavily, donning a hapless smile—not exactly the recipe for utter fondness, at least in Subaru's anxious perspective. "Truly, Subaru and Queen Emilia are as fitting a pair as he and Sister are such great friends!"

Subaru didn't mean to time his cringe with Ram, but they somehow managed to fall in sync with each other.

"Barf, Barasu," she said. "Barfasu."

"A-yep, yeah, being your friend, fate worse than death, I know."

"I'm unsure if that was meant to be a 'clever' nod to your 'Return by Death' being that fate, and I don't care," said Ram. Frederica poured herself and Petra goblets of water from the jug on the table, like this was business as usual as the gold pitcher made a round. "I doubt the reality is any more clever, besides," Ram continued while serving herself a drink. "Tastelessness in lieu of that repugnant excuse for a 'joke' is one of the main reasons I consider Rem's romantic assertions gag-worthy." As her sister winced, Ram added, "By the way, die."

"Ouch. I think Garfiel might have a point: it hurts more that you aren't considering how the other party feels."

"Double die. Back at you." She took a small sip. Two, Ram decided rather suddenly.

"Right." That seemed to be a running theme—not considering how the others would feel. That's probably why half the room didn't want to open up, even when alone with the man who died in their place. "Sorry, Ram. I'll back off." It was hard to tell if she was approaching this from a fight for normalcy, or was resisting her own guilt from overtaking her. If any. Probably none, all things considered; it was Ram, after all.

"It's in the past," she said, breaking the silence. "I can deal with this bothersome revelation. As for the others, you're taking responsibility, Barasu—for all our mental health."

"Huh?"

"Miss Ram is just being her usual grumpy self." Otto was sitting down after replacing the pitcher, its thunk hollow. "We're all in need of a small break from this, I think. We've spent the last day in this state, with our duties covered by the other staff for the next several days. Not that this is much of a vacation, though—a-and not that we're treating this like one! Not that it's work, either, for that matter."

"Wait, did you just say days? " That was a thing they could get away with, even the maids? Otto and Meili were understandable exceptions.

"With the queen's blessing, anything is possible," Frederica assured calmly. "Nothing will be thrown out of sorts if we take the next week or so off, Your Grace."

"'A week?!'"

Petra was smiling, as well as Rem. Garf grinned around his bottom's-up goblet, pinky waving. Ram tutted, exhaling as she gulped the last of her water. "As I said, Barasu," she said, eyes within her goblet. "You ought to take responsibility for your chosen fate."

"Ye-yeah! And no ifs, ands, or buts about it!" Petra added. "We're getting through this together! R-right?"

"Of course, Petra. That means no hiding, and no tough guy act, either," said Emilia.

"But we'll move at our king's pace," added Frederica, "and we'll do so happily."

"And I'm your last wall, I suppose." Beatrice flicked her nose in the air, arms crossed. "And this is a wall you aren't getting past, Subaru, so don't even try and lie to Betty. She knows you better than you know yourself, I suppose."

Subaru couldn't find the words; while on their own page as far as their feelings on the matter was concerned, they were on the same page when it came to treating his own.

"We're being selfish and pushy, I know. I do," Emilia said, hands folded in her lap. "But, Subaru, you've saved us time and again by being pretty pushy yourself, huh?"

Subaru had the self-awareness to blush. "Y-yeah, you're not wrong there…"

Before he could completely feel ashamed, Emiilia continued, "So let us repay the favor—all of them, actually. You don't have to shoulder everything on your own anymore. We're here to save you, too."

Subaru bit back a quip about deja vu; nobody looked annoyed with him for encircling this conversation again, not even Ram—her smile a subtle thing she was probably trying to hide.

"Alright." Subaru clapped his hands together, standing between all of them, looking at each. And Meili was at least there to meet him, albeit with a face tilted off to the side. "Alright, I guess I can air some more laundry…" But where to start? It still felt too big a problem, even for the eight of them—nine, including himself. "I guess, if there's something I've been avoiding," he thought aloud, "it's… well, this may be self-centered, a bit, but it's… I'm always thinking about how a lot of you felt about me when you died. Like… how I looked when my big ideas went belly-up."

Subaru had nothing to worry about. 'Apparently,' added the back of his head. The conversation came and went, just like lunchtime, as did the conversations that followed: more specific tastes of the (less painful) times he failed them in one timeline or another. Of course, they were nothing specifically horrible. Nothing that could make them feel helplessly guilty were divulged; rather, he shared things like the sanity snapping of Emilia as he took his last breaths before her eyes, or the times Beatrice cried as she was left alone—utterly alone—in the thick of conflict in times past. Nothing like the twins' emotion-driven attempts to kill him. Nothing like a teenage Petra's assertions to match his heroism, inadvertently spurring the need to reset.

'One day at a time,' he would tell himself when these memories would threaten to come out. They would face this eventually.

"Subaru," said Rem, lifting a steak dinner, "you must have an appetite again. Would you care for some veggies?"

Her cute face was blocked by a huge, muscled arm. "Give the boss lotsa meat, then." Garf slapped another thigh on top of the first. "He's earned it."

"Garf, you silly," Rem grumbled, thumbing juices off her cheeks.

"Hey, no worries! I'm actually famished." Subaru was parked between his special girls, Otto's arms and Petra's looped up and under Rem's passing of the plate as they went for butter and rolls.

"Help make something for Meili, Garfiel. She's going to be last again."

"I'm not a child, Frederica!"

"I already got something for her, Big Sister!"

"Ah, and the bloodiest piece at that? Thank you, Petra."

"You may not be a child, but you're childish, I suppose, Meili."

"Ironic coming from you, Bea."

The rest of dinner flowed with similar ease. As did the laughs. As did the smiles. Subaru wasn't given a chance to sink into his own thoughts. It felt like progress, the kind Emilia desired and Rem promised.

It was well-past midnight, and Subaru still wasn't done. Luckily—blessedly, he corrected himself subconsciously—neither were the rest. Not even after sitting through the painful, embarrassing truth of Subaru's life on Earth. Nor after the vague outline of his behavior and its evolution up to the end of Betelgeuse, specifically his readiness to be emotionally honest with his eventual wife on the field of Flugel's Tree. The uglier details he deemed most inappropriate were kept out, of course: not his political fuck-ups in that one loop (to Otto's perpetual dismay), but a lot of his first week at Roswaal's, for the twins' sakes and Meili's. For that, Subaru hastily wrote off the canon timeline as being pure luck, and neither Beatrice nor the maids so much as implied that they knew better. Thank God.

Not that it made the rest any easier to relive, for any of them. Ram's "empathetically-procured cleaning linens" were beyond being put to good use, to the point where the main culprit excused herself to get more. Subaru wondered if he should have followed Frederica. Somehow, the shared pain felt delightful—a cocktail he got drunk off of; the cocktail called "progress." It wasted of acceptance, not rejection. Not what he feared, for so many years and fantasies.

"I'm—!" Subaru choked, sniffling as Emilia knuckled his tears away with atypical tenderness. "I'm okay, now," he said, easing her gesture down. "I'm fine. I'm good." Garf's big hand on his back pat twice. Subaru laughed at the force, the big guy's serrated grin, while wiping his cheeks dry. "Seriously, guys, I'm good. By now, these are all just tears of joy."

"Still tryna put on the tough guy-act, eh?" Otto shook his head, arms crossed beside a nose-blowing Frederica (the only friend present who'd shed tears, placing another atop the mound of wet linens sogging on the coffee table). "You never cease to surprise me while being utterly predictable." Otto smiled, tired but genuinely. "But can we cut the crap already, Subaru? We all know you tried to spare some of our feelings. I mean, you didn't really explain how the two of us escaped the White Whale."

Oh. Right. That was somewhat glossed over.

Jumping in fright, Petra cried, "Mister Otto! Your spine is showing!"

Ram crossed her arms. "How embarrassing. Put that thing away."

Subaru chuckled in spite of the fear Otto instilled. "If you guys are trying to lighten the mood, rest assured it's working on me."

"Why do I always have to be the butt of every joke, though?!"

"Because you're at the tail-end of our hierarchy."

Otto shook his fist in Ram's indifferent face. "Why you—?! What're you even measuring this by, huh?"

Ram sat perfectly still. Then shrugged. "Greatness."

"How the heck is that even judged?"

"Obviously I haven't given it serious thought, moron. What's clear, right now, is that I'm not the one salivating at the mouth for punishment at the hands of Barasu." Her eye softly opened on him. "Clearly that's not what matters to him."

"Please, guys, don't." A heat moistened under Subaru's collar faster than everybody's worry (and Ram's indifference) snapped unto him. Making it awkward had always been his specialty. "No contests. I don't want you all comparing stats or whatever. Ram's on the money: I care about you, alright? That's why you're here now, so let's just leave it at that."

"Agreed. Begrudgingly." Ram scoffed softly; she sure did have a lot to say today, more than almost anyone else. "You've always enjoyed sticking your hand in the cookie jar and keeping it there, Barasu: traipsing about the country with it underarm like a hapless child. This prologue merely gave us context." Her one-eyed glare sprung open upon Subaru, Rem at the same time lowering her gaze. "Lucky thing that toddlers are so endearing, in their own disgusting way."

"That's a bit harsh, Sister."

"I'm in a uniquely harsh mood, darling Rem. Barasu chose his fate, yet is making me feel responsible as a key player."

"How dare you say that?" asked a small, cold, dead tone. Subaru couldn't process the speaker faster than she jumped from his lap, little hands slapping upon the table. "How can you say that, I suppose?! You wouldn't even be here if Subaru didn't—!"

"Am I wrong?" asked Ram.

"Huh? Wh-what?"

"Am I wrong, Lady Beatrice, to notice that Barasu wouldn't have endured so much if he wasn't so greedy?"

"N-no! Of course not, in fact! But to hyper-focus on such trivialities—!" Beatrice shook her head, falling back into Subaru, whose arms flew open to catch her sudden collapse. "I see I was a fool, presuming you would ever put your pain behind Subaru's." Though he couldn't see, Beatrice's attention turned on Rem. "And that goes for you, too—apologizing again and again for causing him grief, despite asserting acceptance for the actions of your pitiable former self."

Rem went white while her sister scoffed in bitterness. "I wouldn't—!" she stammered. "I mean, I'm not trying to—!" Rem shot up to her feet. "All I've ever done for Subaru was put my feelings behind his!"

"Then mind that before you mindlessly coddle him again. Maid."

"Beatrice, that's enough." Subaru didn't mean to assert control like he did; he could say that Rem didn't know the finer details before, but that obviously wasn't Beatrice's point, having gleaned this from her evident eavesdropping earlier. Nor were Rem's tears borne purely of the pain inflicted by sacrificing herself—not only before she disappeared, that is. "Nothing Rem's done in the past was her fault. If anything, all the relationship drama was thanks to my cheap power. Rem couldn't help how she felt without context."

"Even with context," Rem told the linen pile steadily, "my decisions would not change. I did, ultimately, act in my own interests, Subaru. Even if those often took the form of self-harm."

"Hah, look! How inconsistent, how human!" Betty sneered.

"Wh-what I meant was—I meant at the time!"

"She ought to fully embrace the weight of her actions instead of this balancing act," Beatrice asserted. " All her actions, I suppose."

"Like me? You really want Rem to hate herself for things she was… she, urgh! For being like me? For being too weak and lonely to think beyond either of those?"

Beatrice refused to answer, only to exhale the tension that had her in its grip all day, wordlessly sinking into resignation and Subaru's chest. And then, "I suppose not, I suppose."

Crisis averted, Subaru felt as Rem reclaimed her spot—maid mask donned. "Besides," he continued, "if anything, I'm the one who has no excuse. I had an infinite number of chances to handle these things better, but I was always just too scared to—"

"Of dying, I suppose?"

"To ruin my progress," he confessed. "With you." Ruining these friendships. Spoiling them with the man I really am.

"Progress? What progress?" Garf threw up his hands. "Ya always knew when a loop was screwed, and pretty friggin' quickly at that, more often than not."

"You're as emotionally deaf as ever, Big Brother Garf," said Meili, one of the longest sentences she uttered all day.

"Please finish, Subaru. What are you trying to say?" asked Emilia.

Subaru breathed in deep. He sighed it all out, Beatrice's head tilting back against his chest as his wife's gaze fell upon him from the side. "If there's one thing this power never helped me with," he said, "it's understanding people better. I mean, it's helped a bit, for sure—definitely not the idiot I was when I first came here, but…" Everyone was mystified, and Subaru realized he was jumping right into justifying his selfishness across a majority of the failed loops.

It was that same behavior that kept the awkwardness going right into this moment; the same uncomfortable feeling no one could voice, but noticed as though it were made of brick. That is to say, it was Subaru and his endless crusade to be anything more than a helpless loser no one should like this much.

"Fuck," he sighed, Emilia giving a start at the curse. "I'm always tryna avoid the real issue, aren't I?" Subaru gazed upon his hands, so weak and greedy and small. "I mean, that's what got us killed more often than not, so could you blame me?" Still justifying, still running—Subaru growled at himself, fist curing. Shaking. This sucked. He sucked.

"Boss, chill."

"Garfiel, I'm sure you can relate," said Frederica, wringing a dry handkerchief. "Have empathy."

She was calling her brother a coward; Garf wasn't perfect, but he was far more a man than Subaru, even when he was fourteen. It wasn't right; none of them were even close to as bad or selfish as this and they all knew it. They had to. "Why don't you come out and say it? It's obvious what I'm getting at." Because Subaru couldn't himself; so weak. "You guys don't need to make it awkward, I know this better than anyone—I've known it for years!"

"Uhhhh, what the hell're you talking about?" Garf, of course.

"What else? The shock's settled, everyone's settling down, and now the obvious is hanging in the air: I'm… just not… the hero. I never was!"

"Subaru, your feats—" Rem tried.

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying, that's not what I'm talking about!" Not his feats, but his gestures of kindness; his random spurts of empathy and charisma. "Everything you guys like me for, everything that you think I've done for you?" Many brows knitted themselves. "All of that—all of it—was built on a mountain of your corpses made by my hands!" They were all he could stomach to watch. "My trash little heart—this gross, disgusting goal to get you all to like me in the exact way you're feeling now!"

"You're being too hard on yourself, Subaru." Emilia's hand was on his arm, as featherlight as her words threatened to make him feel. "We don't see any of that in such an awful way."

"How?!" They had to be lying. Not a single one of them was angry; even Meili was out of her mopey state. It was all just pity. All of them were just full of pity. "Don't you get what I'm feeling?" he asked. "Aren't any of you guys the least bit weirded out that I was, am , this big of a mess despite managing to worm my way into all your lives?" Didn't they find it all fake? At least a little? Even Ram was too stunned to quip, and that's what was killing Subaru; that's what he wanted to know most, and feared, deep down, whenever a world where "Return by Death" could be uttered aloud was so much as fantasized. "Aren't you? You guys?"

"Subaru, please." Emilia's hands were unsteady as they eased unto his shoulders, their courage growing in weight. "Please. Take a deep breath. I truly don't think a single one of us here hates you for—"

"No, Emilia, I know that already." She didn't understand, couldn't right now. "I know that none of you will hate me for this."

"Then use your words," said Beatrice. "Not your emotions."

"Beako…" Until hearing her voice, Subaru was more shocked with her reaction to this than anyone. "I… I always thought you'd fly off the handle if you knew the truth. If I'm being honest."

She stiffened jerkily. "How so?"

"Well, when we made our contract… when the library was burning… don't you see my courage as a little bit phony? My words?" Didn't she think he just said whatever he needed to save her and continue their friendship? At all? Even a little?

"I… I don't understand, I suppose." Her voice was stilted, as stiff as her spine against Subaru's chest. "Expound upon that, please."

Taking a deep breath, sighing, Subaru told himself to believe in their years and history to push the words out: "I just find it hard to believe, Beatrice, that you aren't the least bit put-off by the fact that our contract was built on a lie." And that went for everyone, more or less; the feelings they had for Subaru that yielded this endless well of patience and love… "I'm not a hero," he managed. "I never knew what to say. I just said what I felt forced to. I said things I only learned through trial and error at the cost of all'a you." No one objected, but also, nobody agreed. The silence was worse than a rejection of his efforts; at least a rejection was specific. "Don't you see that precious memory of ours as a lie, Beatrice?"

"What utter nonsense!" She launched herself off Subaru's lap, whipping around with a glare. "What absolute tripe, I suppose!"

"Beako…"

Her little finger shot forth like a bullet. "Are you truly that dense and stupid—to think that Betty is on your petty level?" Her words were quivering, with something greater than pure rage. "Do you honestly think Betty would forget the night she chose you?! That she would take it for granted?!" Her lips trembled. Something within her took this personally; and as usual, Subaru didn't have the knowledge of previous loops for context.

Therefore, he had no words. No excuse. "I guess I did. I'm terrified, and always have been, of you guys..." Of being a fraud, and hated for it, to put it simply. That's what Subaru wanted to say.

"I can't believe you, I suppose!" Beatrice cried. "How could you, Subaru? After all these years, you think this meaningless revelation makes even a single thing you've done suddenly invalid?! To everyone else? To me? To this ungrateful country?! Is Betty—is your Beako," she croaked, "is she truly... such an awful person within the lifetimes I don't remember?" Gasping, she looked Subaru in the eye, asking, "Was I that unbearably selfish?"

This took a turn. "What?" Is that where this emotion was coming from? "Beatrice, what're you assuming—?"

"Nothing, I suppose! What's the point?! You'll just waste words avoiding the heart of the matter as you apparently always have, I suppose!"

Ouch.

Ouch.

Subaru couldn't blame her, but still. Beatrice wasn't pulling any punches here.

"Betty." Petra was in the spotlight, on the edge of her seat and reaching for her friend. "You're being a little bit selfish. Just take it down a notch—"

"I'm being selfish, I suppose?!" Beatrice cried, throwing a hand to her contractor.

Petra straightened, her soft features hardening. "Well, you're not seeing Subaru's face, for one."

Betty turned, and Subaru realized he himself wasn't allowing it to be seen; that he couldn't look Beatrice in the eye. "Wait!" He realized how this looked, suddenly—and because of his usual selfishness, Subaru was met with Beatrice's beautiful eyes threatening to overflow. "It's not what you think! Beako, you never—!"

"What'd I do to you?! What did your Betty do to you?! What aren't you telling us?!" Jumping to her own conclusions—they were made for each other in a lot of ways, her and Subaru. "Betty's killed you before. She must have, she must have; if not out of vengeance, then because I was selfish."

She was not wrong. But she was hurting, and that was worse. "No! No-no, you haven't! Nothing like that, not at all!" Was this what's been on her mind since yesterday morning? Is that what she's been avoiding? "You never did a single thing to me, Beako! I swear—!"

"I don't want to hear it," she snapped. "I don't wish to hear any more of your false promises for the night. Or ever, for that matter, I suppose!"

"Beako—!" Subaru choked. This felt like an ending. It wouldn't be, she'd come around, but something was breaking here. He could tell, he knew it would at some point. Subaru got on his knees if that's what it took to save it. "I swear, Beatrice, on our contract, I swear it!" He dropped his palms, his forehead. "On the words I said to you that night, I swear it! I… I love you, Beatrice. On that, I swear to you, I'm not lying: you never killed me! Not once have you killed me!"

"Then… then how many times…" All Subaru could see were Beatrice's hands bunching up her skirts. "How many times did it take you, then? Tell Betty that much."

He would. He truly, honestly would, appearances be damned. "Tell you what?"

"Just... how many times… to draw me out of the..." Beatrice gasped, and Subaru lifted his face to find hers twisted and damp. "How many times did this worthless Betty get you killed? When did her stupid, selfish pity hold you back and get the others hurt?! Or worse?! Before the fire and after—how many times?! Give Betty an exact number, Subaru!"

"Beako…"

Her face collapsed into her hands, a wet gasp lashing hollowly within. "What did your Beako do to you, Subaru? Tell me everything."

"Beatrice." Petra's voice was as soft as before, alongside her expression. "You're definitely throwing a tantrum. I'm sure Subaru will tell you what you want to know eventually, just give him time—"

"You're being awfully cold about this, I suppose." Her voice was as icy as her glare was harsh. "Usually you have so much noise to make."

"Um, 'scuse me?"

Betty huffed to the side, crossing her arms like Petra was beneath her. "How else could you explain this reaction of yours, I suppose? You're the one always lamenting about the trouble Subaru goes through to help you. How're you not bawling your eyes out? Unless you're simply too stupid to realize he must've died countless times to save your helpless self."

"Woah," whistled Garf.

Frederica rose, her full height towering. "Pardon me, but that's too far, Lady Beatrice."

Petra was stiff, her face firm. And then, a sob—a single gasp that broke the dam, the rest flowing in a violent torrent of bawling into her hands. Subaru had been shocked by Beatrice's words to quickly remember: Petra was painfully aware of such accusations.

"You didn't have to go that far, Lady Beatrice!" Meili cried, wrapped around Petra as fast as she would be in battle.

"And you!"

"Me?!"

"Yes, you! Mabeast Master, former assassin! How could Subaru be the only one on his knees right now? Between the ulgarm and the wasteland alone, your pets surely butchered him on several occasions, I suppose!" Beatrice dragged a sleeve across her eyes. Snarling breathily, she added, "And you can barely say a word of gratitude in spite of all that. Not an apology, nor any kind of recognition for your part in his trauma! To be devoured is surely one of the longest, most agonizing ways to die—as I'm sure you know, you motherless psychopath! And you don't even care, I suppose! "

"That's enough!" Subaru stood, towering over Beatrice. Meili was shattered, her gaze heavy upon the floor. "Don't take others down because you think you're the only one feeling guilty!"

Betty looked stricken as if slapped. "You don't," she breathed, face crumbling away from view, "understand…" And Betty turned and ran. She ran faster than Subaru could react, throwing the door open, shoving aside the plated legs of a knight ready to knock on the door.

"Err…" His name was Lawrence, Subaru recalled. Politely folding his hands, the young man hastily explained, "The matter is not of grievous import. The lieutenant and I can—"

"It's fine," Emilia sighed, rising steadily, face downcast and set to calm before turning with a smile. "What is it, Lawrence? Is there a problem?"

"Just some visitors, insisting on the king and queen," he said. "Four of them. A shady bunch, accompanied by a box taller than a man. How shall we proceed?"

Emilia looked to Subaru, lacing his curls through her fingers. He could tell; if the last five minutes hadn't happened, she would tend to the matter without question. Before he could reassure his wife, Emilia turned back to Lawrence.

"If you don't mind," she said, "dismiss our guests with a promise that we'll receive them at first light. We should have retired for the night many hours ago."

Lawrence bowed deeply. "Of course, Your Grace." The door shut with a hasty clap.

Beatrice's words returned with a vengeance, wrapping around Subaru's mind and heart. "I should talk to her," he said, massaging a headache. "I dunno what I'll say, but…" Meili made her way to the door, set on something right before her eyes. "Err, Mei? Is everything—?"

"No," she snapped, whispering hoarsely. Meili opened the door enough to squeeze her slender self through and yank it shut, only to crack it open a sliver. "M'sorry, Subaru." Her departure concluded with a soft click of the door.

They were hurting. And because of him. That's all that registered. "I'll talk to the both of—"

"It's best to give them space, Barasu." For whatever reason, Ram's hand was held in Rem's, whose other rubbed circles in the elder's back. "If it's out in the open, then there's no use tiptoeing any longer." Her eye gently eased open, boring directly into Subaru. "I wish to know, regarding myself, the answer to Miss Beatrice's questions."

"Ram—"

"I'm not going to ease my way around broken glass," she explained. "You know that's not my style. I desire to walk right over it, get on my day with bloody feet, and carry any scars for the rest of my life."

Subaru tried a smirk, scratching his cheek. "I wonder if being beneath your feet is in any way significant."

"If only. Those, I would never have to look at them and their stupid face, gross eyes, and bad hair every single day." Ram's gaze hardened. "To put it simply, I wish to know all and make peace with it."

"You're… really ballsy, Ram. And brave." In light of what just happened, all Subaru could do was admire Ram's admission of fear and her sudden courage.

"Hardly," she said. "Surely, Barasu, you can look to Miss Beatrice, and see why beating around the bush is awful."

Too true. Ram—everybody—earned this much, lest they bottle their fears until it's too much to contain, like what happened with Beatrice. "Only once," Subaru said. "You came after me once, and you didn't even kill me."

Ram grunted, gazing at the soiled rags Frederica alone ended up using. "Might I ask… why I would ever feel driven to take such action?"

"Why?" Subaru had to chuckle; it must sound as absurd to Ram as her question felt to Subaru. "Well, when a guy who looks like me spends four days holed up with Beatrice, and then Rem dies to a curse suddenly, I think even Petra would come to the same conclusion you did."

"So you did get got your first week here!" Garf gave a scoff, crossing his arms across his pecs. "Shoulda known a weenie like you couldn't actually get through a week unscathed." His smirk was friendly, but his words…

This relationship, too, was changing beyond Subaru's control: Garf was seeing his hero for who he really was, not that he was rejecting him. Something about that made Subaru smile back, somehow grateful after what just happened with Beatrice.

"If what you're telling me isn't some tasteless joke," Ram continued, folding her arms as well, "then how could you have gotten away from me?"

The answer made Subaru wish it was tomorrow so he could talk to Beatrice again. Explain things. Make her not cry anymore, at least. Something. Anything. "She thought I was 'that person.' At least, that's more or less what I think drove her at the time. She even followed me outside the mansion."

"Huh. And how did you repay this kind gesture of hers?"

Subaru scratched the back of his head, turning away from Emilia. "Um, goring myself at the bottom of a cliff. To save Rem. And you—your, uh, your s-s-soul, I mean…" Hearing no objections, nor acceptance, Subaru continued with his face to the mural on the ceiling. "It was bad. You were really falling apart. Your screams…" 'I'm going to KILL YOU!' "I still haven't forgotten them. It was the first time I did something selfless for a friend. Or, at least, people I thought I could make friends with, if I tried hard enough." Still nothing; everyone was pensive, every single one of them. Ram, too. "And that goes for all the times you, quote, 'got me killed.' All of you. No, Ram, you never did anything to hurt me outside of this one time you… you tried to. If… if anything, I'm the one who got you killed, more often than not."

Ram gave a scornful laugh, tossing a hand through her hair. "Sounds about right. Unlike you, I'm too perfect to get people killed on my watch."

"Ah, no. You're actually annoyingly bad at staying alive."

"I'm sorry."

Subaru was as taken aback by her reply as he was by the sound of her apology. "Th-that was supposed to be a mood lifter!"

"Well, now you have my one and only show of remorse. Let it make you feel guilty for the rest of your life, Barasu." Ram finished with a smirk, one that spread to Rem, who couldn't maintain it before dropping it back once more.

"S-Subaru—" A knock on the door.

"Yes?" Emilia called, smiling just as kindly as before. The same cloaked knight with green hair pushed through, Lawrence.

"My Queen," he saluted. "The visitors from before are unusually stubborn. Nothing has happened—yet—but… they did not flinch under a feinted strike, nor give any sort of reply. Nor have they said anything more than their prior request. How shall we proceed with these characters?"

Of the same mind, Emilia and Subaru looked to one another, his wife's eyes apologizing. Subaru smiled. "See you in a few."

Emilia exhaled fondly. "I won't be long."

"Be careful."

Emilia's face crumpled, reddened; swallowing her emotion and exhaling softly, she brushed her cheek against Subaru's. "I love you."

His heart threatened to fly out of his throat. "L-love you, too."

"Awe!" A frantic, singular bout of clapping.

"F-Frederica! You know I don't like it when you guys comment!"

"Specifically when you remind her that she did that in front of others." Subaru guffawed as Emilia knuckled him on the back of the head twice. A cough from the door brought the energy to a halt, then a boil—only for the man to blush and bow completely.

"My throat's been dry all day. Sincerest apologies."

"I'm comin', too." Garf stood, shouldering his broad chest free from his jacket. "If it's alright with you, queenie."

"Yes, please and thank you. Just remember—"

"Claws sheathed, fangs bared. I'll be a good boy." Garf chuckled as if he had no plans to, a bad joke Frederica conked him for.

"It's 'good kitty,' Garf, m'boy."

Garf thumbed his nose at Subaru, shadowing Emilia's exit. "Eat shit, Your Majesty." Twisting himself through the doorway, Garf turned his head to Subaru, then avoided his gaze rather quickly. Weird. His name was on Subaru's lips when, suddenly, the earth growled, cracked and bled out grit… from above. Subaru and the others present lifted their eyes.

The garden was broken into four chunks, three enormous ones around a central block, far broader than the dimensions of the gathering, coffee table and couches all. It rumbled, it dusted, got in Subaru's eyes. Beako was going to be pissed. Something like a mighty peg in a great big hole gulped free overhead, a cannon fire to all hell breaking loose:

A bestial cry of "BOSS!" alongside a hysterical, demonic one as Subaru's immortal body was yanked across the table. He thought he was dying—it was Rem, Petra in her other arm as the demon snarled, shielding them both. Pink flashed from her forehead as a great, striped torso blotted out the flowery boulder's descent, the rest of the ceiling following in the same slow-motion fall.

Several cries, save Petra's, were muted in the waterfall of raging stone and debris. Everyone will be okay. Otto's quick, Ram's reactive, and a demon besides. Frederica had keener senses than her brother. They were all going to be fine. Subaru was helpless anyway. And if it was happening again... It was definitely happening again, wasn't it? Subaru could do nothing more than breathe Rem's scent as she snorted his, her biceps hard against his cheek, her protection a gentle pink glow. The presence above jostled as it thundered, holding fast, better than any roof ever could—that was their wall, Garfiel. He'll be fine. He'll be fine because it barely lasted two seconds. Silence fell as briefly as it left, and light returned as the shadow that swallowed them receded into a smaller form—a dusty screen blotting the bloodier details.

"Glad to see you're staying upright!" Subaru reacted.

"Heh. Even before we met, it'd have taken more than a couple pebbles to knock me down. Shit," Garf exhaled, reaching behind his own shoulder, wincing all the way. "All'a yous had better be alive, or you're all dead fucking meat! HEY! "

Muffled by distance, debris and dust, Ram said, "Cabbie, turn away. You're making Frederica's skin crawl."

"I can't see anyway!" Otto started coughing his lungs out.

"We're lucky, Garf!" Frederica called. "Anybody I didn't grab is with you, except—Queen Emilia?"

Subaru felt like he lost his dinner. "Mili?!"

"Subaru! Everyone! I'm so relieved!" Behind them, at the doorway. Painted boulders scattered between them, Emilia stood blocked up to the knees in the corridor. Between those and her, Lawrence's arm and body blocked her attempted entry.

The dust was clearing to the left, where Otto was holding behind him his soiled green cloak for Frederica. As she took it gladly, Ram ran over murmuring something to Rem, who looked no worse for wear as her horn shrank. The shaking against Subaru's chest he pushed away, held out in front of him.

"Petra." She tilted her chin up an inch, eyes wide on Subaru's shirt. "You okay?"

The brunette hesitated before nodding. "Y-yeah, I just… don't—" A noise gagged Petra, her eyes gaping in Emilia's direction the instant glass ruptured behind Subaru. He spun, Emilia crying out as a shower of knightly chunks tinkled upon the carpet like so much stone. The same instant, Emilia snapped up a wall of ice between her and another human-shattering force. Something from down the corridor; her name caught in Subaru's throat as another ice wall appeared and shattered, appeared and shattered, appeared and shattered in seconds.

"Wake up, you idiots!" Ram finished powering over the rubble past Subaru, waited until another wall snapped upwards before yanking Emilia over the painted boulders. With a whoop the queen fell on her backside and threw a chilly blast out in front of her. The threshold clogged itself with ice and beyond, so much it bled beyond the doorway's confines, tendrils creeping outwards until the blast's choppy roar ceased deftly. With but a single groan, the glassy wall smoked in utter silence.

Rem exhaled overhead, her protective embrace Subaru didn't realize was still there gracefully unfurling. She untangled herself, but not without a pat of his head. Subaru smiled thanks for the save, Rem mirrored as she ever did, albeit with the painful glisten from before he couldn't bear a second longer. He wondered if Beatrice and Ram's courage had been on the brink of inspiring her.

A horrible part of Subaru was glad that she was interrupted.

Unspeakable Fear