Rem was broken, there was no other way to describe her state, her eyes were blank, her movements were robotic and empty, she would never talk unless absolutely necessary, and that was just to her sister.

Imagine her surprise when she woke up to the news that not only was she a coma for over a year thanks to her failure to defeat gluttony, but that her hero was working tirelessly to get her back. In those moments, while she hated herself for causing her Subaru so much anguish, she felt butterflies in her stomach to know that he cared enough to work so hard for her.

Oh, how soon would that happiness die out. When the Emilia camp made their way back to Pristella in a panic looking for Subaru her worries started getting the better of her. That all came to a head when she finally witnessed her hero once more, unfortunately, he was not the Subaru she once knew, but a corpse, pale and cold, lacking any of the warmth she had come to know from him.

The amount of tears she shed were probably enough to flood Pristella, she couldn't even look at most of the Emilia camp in the eyes, not after she learnt what happened to him. Roswaal's disappearance soon after was the only good thing that has happened to her since, after being told of his actions in the sanctuary she felt disgusted by herself for ever working for him.

The Felt camp took her sister, Garfiel and herself in, they could have kept working at the Miload mansion, but neither her nor Garfiel could stand the thought of working for anyone related to the clown, the mere idea brought revulsion to both, so when offered to work in the Astrea mansion they made their decision fairly quickly. She didn't know if they offered out of pity, remorse, or guilt but frankly she hardly cared.

Still, no matter how much time passed, she always came back to one memory.

'Run away with me Rem'

She couldn't stop remembering his words, she thought she was doing the right thing at the time by giving him the words he needed to hear, but now… she realizes she just sent him to his death. Perhaps indirectly, but she couldn't help to blame herself for what happened to him, if they ran away, they could have had a family, they would have gotten away from the royal selection, from Roswaal, from the witch cult, but more importantly, Subaru would have been alive.

The only reason she keeps on living is because she realizes that if she killed herself, she would throw away Subaru's work to the trash, and so she continues to live. However, she would not complain if she got ran over by a carriage and died a miserable death.

Today was the same as every day, she was mindlessly making dinner, blankly moving around without making a sound, she didn't even know what she was making, her body working automatically like a machine. That was, until she sensed something, a certain smell, one that she could immediately recognize. Most would not detect it, but her advanced sense of smell and familiarity with the scent allowed her to do so. And, while her experience permitted the recognition of such, her racing mind disregarding the most integral part of the smell, the one that caused so so much trouble for the poor boy.

Her body stopped, she dropped her utensils out of shock. She had to go, she had to follow that smell. Rem ran out of the kitchen at her maximum speed toward the scent.

She heard someone call out to her, but her focus was somewhere else. She ran through the halls, passing some of her surprised coworkers, she made her way to the third floor where the vast majority of the sleeping quarters were. Finally, arriving at the room where the smell permeated from, she couldn't contain herself, she finally felt like there was light, a possibility of her impossible dream to come true.

She busted into the room and saw a black haired boy, the one that saved her life, the one that gave her hope, her hero, with his chest pumping once more.

"Subaru-kun!"

She couldn't believe it, she once more shed tears, but this time, out of happiness. She rushed to hug him screaming "Subaru-kun Subaru kun!"

Unfortunately, thanks to the tears and her emotional high she failed to see the standing sword saint, and when she tried to approach her hero, his extended arm stopped her. Not expecting sudden movement, she bumped into Reinhard's arm and fell on her butt.

He looked at her with widened yet sharp eyes, his form was already in a defensive stance. However, recognition came to his gaze and a tinge of pain flashed through his eyes. It seemed like he was mentally berating himself.

"I truly apologize for making you fall down, but I need you to be as quiet as possible right now since Subaru is sleeping" He watched the unconscious boy with a small smile, then glanced back at her "I understand that you may have various questions regarding this situation, but please go get everyone who knew Subaru, we have to arrange a meeting about this" Murmuring this, he extended his arm to Rem helping her get back up.

"But Sub-!" About to scream out once more, Reinhard covered her mouth. She wanted to run to him, to hug him, to cry in the arms of her hero, it wasn't fair to make her wait!

"As I said, call a meeting, we have to discuss this while he is asleep" Reinhard's voice was more commanding, his eyes sharpened as he looked at the maid, they needed to make haste.

When she looked at the sword saint's eyes she saw the seriousness in them, in the time she had come to know the red haired knight she had never seen his eyes have the sheer conviction they exuded at the moment. While she was impatient and wanted to be with Subaru, she came to the conclusion that her master had to have a reason to impede her from doing so.

Deciding that doing as told would probably allow her to be with Subaru faster, she dashed out of the room with a bounce looking for the others. She ran, her blue hair bobbing up and down as she rushed through the halls of the Astrea mansion, rivers of happy tears ran through her cheeks and stained the carpets.

'Subaru-kun is back! Subaru-kun is back! Subaru-kun is back!'

Her mind repeated that thought over and over again, she felt herself become whole once more, as if the darkness and emptiness she previously carried was being filled by the love she had for him. The overload of emotions made her unable to notice the wide smile that finally grazed her face after over a year of despair.

Ram prepared dinner with the help of her sister, they were on cooking duty most of the time nowadays since Rem's cooking was considered top-notch, normally she would feel great pride at the fact her sister got rightfully recognized for her abilities but seeing her current state... she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

When she gazed at Rem's condition, she felt nothing but regret, it was as if she reverted to her state she was in the aftermath of the attack on their village, but worse. At least back then she talked to her, smiled at her, now? It was as if she was a walking corpse. In the rare occasion her sister spoke her voice would be rigid, empty and the conversation brief, it truly broke her heart.

Though, she couldn't really say she was doing much better. Losing Subaru hurt, she wouldn't have been caught dead telling him to his face before, but she truly warmed up to him, and in a way considered him something akin to a little brother. The fact that he was killed, not by nature, nor an enemy, but by his allies was dreadful.

However, it didn't completely hit her until Roswaal himself disappeared. She was no fool, the look he carried before he did gave her all the information she needed, her master met the same fate, did he give up because of the guilt he carried? Or because losing the knight solidified the destruction of his plans? In her mind, she always saw it as a mixture of both. Thinking about them truly drove home a feeling of loss and loneliness she had never felt before.

She tried not to, but sometimes at night, some stray tears would escape from her eyes. Occasionally, when she lost herself in the deepest corners of her mind, she would wish they never met the black haired boy, maybe then, her master would still be alive, her sister would still smile, maybe she wouldn't feel the void she had in her heart now.

Every time they appeared, she almost always tried to squash them down, if it weren't for Subaru, they would have surely been dead for a while now, having such dark wishes is an insult to what he worked for, and what he gave them when he was still alive. The responsibilities and fault for the consequences his departure left lied solely on them, but still...

The sound of falling utensils made her come back to reality, it seemed that Rem dropped something, when she glanced at her, she saw her shell-shocked sister, looking as if some great realization dawned on her.

"Rem-" But before she could completely call out to her blue haired sister, she had already dashed out of the room. She paused, surprised at the sudden actions her sister had made out of nowhere, but she realized she had sensed something important, and she needed to be there for her.

And so, Ram chased after Rem who ran out of the kitchen unexpectedly. Since she hadn't seen such emotion in her in a while, it took her some time to react, meaning that by the time she got out of the kitchen she had already lost her.

She panicked, she could tell through their synesthesia that her sister wasn't in trouble, but in emotional distress, she had to be there for Rem in case anything happened. Looking around she found one of her stunned coworkers watching the stairs for the next floor. Which was all the information she needed.

Once she got to the second floor she was actually lost, Rem could have gone into the third floor or just kept going on this one, she started thinking but she was interrupted.

"Ram, is your sister alright? She ran to third floor in quite the panic" Carol called, worried for both sisters. Ever since she met the new residents she saw that they all held the same pain as Reinhard and Felt, it always made her want to help them, but to no avail.

"I'm… not sure, thank you very much Carol-san" Bowing she made her way to the third floor with a sprint, leaving the old maid wondering what could have possibly triggered such a panicked reaction from them.

By the time she got to the same floor as her sister she already saw her running full speed back toward her with wide smile, which was quite surprising for her, she missed seeing the shining smiles Rem displayed, seeing it once more brought a small but glad smile to the pink haired maid's face. Before she could even ask anything about the reason for such happiness however, Rem had already started talking to her in a hurried voice.

"Nee-sama! Nee-sama! Reinhard-sama has called a meeting, we need to notify the members of the camp quick!" And just as she finished, Rem disappeared almost instantly in the search for some of the other members of the camp.

"Rem wait-!" Her words reached no one, as she was left alone in the hall still lacking any idea as to what the situation was that had made her sister so happy, there was one thing for certain though…

'It's nice to see you smile once more Rem'

Garfiel Tinsel was training outside the Astrea Mansion, well, training was the wrong word for it, it was more of an anger reliever. Punching, smashing, destroying the trees in his way, he kept up this savage destruction under the guise of training, nevertheless he knew deep inside that he was just avoiding the underlying problem, he didn't care however.

'I need to get stronger'

Those words echoed in his head

'I need to be better'

The thoughts that filled his mind each day

'I can't fail again'

He failed the princess, he failed his sister, he failed Otto, he failed Ram and Rem, and worst of all, he failed his captain. A shield he called himself, pathetic, he couldn't even protect one of the most important people in his life, he was a disgrace to his previous camp. Anything he did now would never make up for his disgrace.

This whole training was just a pitiful front to fool the members of the camp and himself into thinking he was doing something productive, that he was trying to improve, to better himself and become stronger. He knew nobody believed him, but how could they if even he himself couldn't?

In his stupor, he had not noticed the yells of the blue haired maid.

"Garfiel-san!" Finally, Rem's voice reached his ears, catching him off guard. She had been calling him for a while now.

"What do y'want? Replied the annoyed teenager, he winced slightly at his own voice, he didn't like acting like this, but he couldn't feel anything but frustration or anger whenever someone talked to him.

"Reinhard-sama has called a meeting, please come with me" There it was, he never had anything against the Felt camp or any of its members, especially not the sword saint, however he didn't want to get close to any of them, he just… couldn't.

"Why should I care? y'can have yer dumbass meeting without me" As always. He came off more aggressive than he meant to, but the sentiment was still there, he did not care for any meetings about the camp.

Yet, Rem's happy expression did not falter even in the face of Garfiel's aggressivity, if anything she seemed more excited and hopeful than before, which terribly confused him.

She knew exactly what to say to grab the blond boy's attention and convince him to come quickly with her.

"It's about Subaru-kun" With a gentle a smile and a slight blush she looked at Garfiel in hopes of him getting the hint that the meeting would be a positive one. Still, It didn't seem to work as the boy was stuck in his mind.

Those words shook him to the core. Talks of Subaru always made his feelings of worthlessness and guilt increase tenfold, the same could be said for most of the people who formerly knew the half-elf's knight, but while he was a guilt that almost everyone who knew him carried, he was rarely brought up. They all came to the silent, but collective agreement that the topic was some sort of taboo.

That's why Rem's words immediately worsened his mood, he didn't want to remind himself of how much they fucked up, they already knew that! There's nothing left to discuss, they failed and now had to live with the consequences of their actions.

"…Cap'n? Why- why would we have a meetin' about em'! He's already…!" He stopped when he noticed Rem's bright smile. Ever since Rem woke up from her coma and saw what became of Subaru Natsuki he had never seen her smile, while that fact applied to most of the residents, for her to smile that way something positive must be going on right?

"Why th' fuck are ya smiling? Did- did somethin' good happen?" His voice wavered and he began to stutter slightly, what could possibly be positive about discussing the captain now? He tried wracking his brain for any answers but came up empty.

Rem noticing his more docile attitude was glad that Garfiel listened to her fairly quickly, she took the chance to nod at him with excitement "Please just come with me"

Garfiel was definitely reluctant, but as Rem started making her way back to the mansion, leading the way with bounce and cheer he hadn't seen from her before, he figured he had nothing to lose.

In a meeting room, the most prominent members of the Felt camp were all seated around a circular table. With Carol and Grimm standing to next to each respecting side of the candidate. Observing everyone's expressions, Felt took a deep breath and smiled.

"I imagine most of you may be confused as to why we have called a meeting"

To this, almost all current occupants nodded their heads, some of them showed some slight confusion at the joy she displayed, but nobody would complain.

"Well, I bring very, very good news!" Extending her arms to her sides in an attempt to make a grandiose gesture not unlike the ones Subaru used to do when he was in a happy mood.

The tone and actions of the candidate surprised most in the room, there was clearly a positive ambience to the room and the exaggerated gestures made some raise their eyebrows.

Garfiel however, was not having it, he wanted to know what the hell this meeting entailed and whether it was something important or not so he could leave to train. Felt making motions that reminded him of his captain did not help improve his mood in the slightest.

"What tha hell does dis 'ave to do with cap'n?" Impatience getting the better of him, he asked crudely and with no desire to extend this more than it had to.

Ram widened her eyes when she heard Garfiel's words. A meeting about Subaru? What use would that be? They didn't need to be reminded of what they did to him, that was still very clearly weighing their minds.

But that wasn't the purpose of the meeting, was it? She remembered the way Rem carried herself ever since the meeting was called, if it was anything but good news, she would still act the same way as before.

"B- Subaru? Forgive me Felt-sama, but I fail to see why we would need to discuss anything further about him" Ram kept it professional and addressed the candidate with her due respect, still the confusion in her voice was noticeable. She wondered however, what could possibly be good news that involved Subaru now?

"It is because…" Reinhard answered for his lady, his words trailed as he desired to watch the confused expressions of everyone present before dropping the amazing news that were sure to make everyone bounce in joy.

"Subaru Natsuki is back" His words were clear and confident, simple enough for all of them to understand, but while the blue haired maid's smile brightened even further the rest of the room was filled with an unbearable silence.

Everyone was still processing his words, Reinhard could practically see the wheels turning in their heads trying to understand what he said.

"Is this som' kind of sick joke!?" Garfiel was the first to cut the silence, and it was not positive. He slammed his fists on the table and screamed at the sword saint with clear hatred. This was what they wanted to do?! Make fun of them and ridicule his captain?!

"Reinhard-sama… I ask that you do not make light of such a topic" Ram still spoke with professionalism, but the hostility of her voice was clearly heard by all. She thought better of the red haired knight than to make fun of their pain.

Reinhard in turn, panicked at their reactions, he did not expect such hostility from them, it seems that in his excitement he disregarded how impossible and possibly offensive such a statement could be, they didn't believe him.

"Nee-sama, Garfiel-san Reinhard-sama is not lying Subaru-kun is back!" Thankfully Rem came to the sword saint's rescue before he could mess up the situation more than he already had. "I saw him with my own eyes!"

"…Is that true Felt-sama?" Ram wanted some final confirmation from the candidate. She wanted to believe her sister, but such a declaration was just inconceivable to her.

"Yup! It's all true, Reinhard found him during his patrol in the capital and brought him here to stay with us, actually he's currently sleeping in the room next to his" Felt's nervousness had dissipated, and she spoke with more confidence, thankfully the didn't escalate far enough to cause any problems, she was getting quite anxious at the prospect.

Right as she finished her sentence Garfiel sat up and bolted towards the door in a desperate attempt to see his captain for himself, unfortunately for him, Reinhard blocked the door with his body.

"Get t' hell out 'f my way! I need to see m' cap'n!" He growled punching and scratching the sword saint in a futile attempt to overpower him. Of course, Reinhard was unaffected and unmoving.

"I understand your eagerness Garfiel, however there is some crucial information you all need to know before we can allow you to go see him" He effortlessly pried the raging Garfiel off him and placed him on his seat with a smile

"And what is that?" Ram asked, still skeptical and unbelieving of the entire situation, perhaps they had all finally snapped?

"Ah, the thing is… Subaru doesn't remember us at all" Felt was reluctant to say that much, she knew the facts of the situation would hurt them as much as it hurt both her and Reinhard.

Once her words reached Rem's ears, she went wide eyed. She did not know that was the case, but did she really think that whatever or whoever brought Subaru back would just give them a free pass for what they did? They deserved any punishment that came their way, and this one was very fitting for them.

The only silver lining for her was that at least Subaru wouldn't have to remember all the horrible things his so-called friends did to him, well at least not personally, he would have to learn what happened to him before sooner or later.

"…what 're ya saying?" Garfiel's pathetic whimper was sad to hear, the discrepancy between his previous anger to now was disheartening for the occupants of the meeting room, but even more so for the oni sisters.

"From what we've gathered from talking to him, he seems to be Subaru from the first time I met him in the capital, which from what I understand, should coincide to when Emilia-sama met him as well." Reinhard took a slight breath before continuing. "When questioned, he did not recognize neither me, Emilia-sama nor was he familiar with the witch cult. Not only that, but he is a 17 year old again."

And once again, the sword saint's explanation left the room without words, what he was implying was that not only had Subaru Natsuki risen from the dead, but that he was younger as well.

The only logical explanations would be a form of de-aging or time travel, but neither of which should be possible, de-aging to such an extent is unheard of, and time travel itself is simply impossible, not even the witch of envy herself held such power.

"How is that possible? Subaru was buried in Elior forest, and I very much doubt Emilia-sama and Beatrice-sama would allow anyone to come close to him" Ram voiced out her thoughts. While Emilia and Beatrice were no where near Reinhard-level, they were definitely a force to be reckoned with, and unless an archbishop of the witch cult or someone of that level went against them, she was sure they wouldn't lose.

However, that did bring up a terrifying possibility, she had heard about both the previous sword saint, Theresia Van Astrea, and the Vollachian warrior, Kurgan, having their corpses reanimated to fight for the witch cult. What if this was the case with Subaru? While everyone knew he was extremely weak physically, when he wasn't acting like a clown, he was extremely smart and cunning.

If he was fighting with the witch cult, could it be possible he was reanimated to strike those who were closest to him, and as a result eliminate some of the biggest remaining threats to the cult? That was a genuine horrifying possibility for her.

"If not even that cat healer was able to bring him back, then how would he be here now and younger at that? Are you sure you're not losing it Astrea?" Old man Rom finally decided to speak up, causing Felt to elbow him for his words.

"I saw Subaru too! And I sure as hell ain't going loony old man!" Slightly angry at the insinuation the golden haired candidate yelled at Rom, sure, she thought Reinhard was going insane too for a moment, but both her and Rem had already confirmed his story!

"Could the witch cult possibly be involved with this?" Ram voiced out her concerns out loud, which caught the sword saint off guard if his surprised expression and subsequent frown was anything to go by.

"I- I don't think that's the case Nee-sama" Rem was still dealing with the implications of Subaru not remembering them, but the possible doubts that could be formed if they thought Subaru was part of the witch cult again were incredibly alarming for her.

"Why do you say that, Rem?" Ram trusted her sister more than anything in the world, so if she had any answers that weren't 'Subaru-kun would never do such a thing!' then she would love to hear them. Then again, jumping to assumptions and messing up like last time would be the worst-case scenario, they couldn't mess up again and had to treat the situation delicately.

"Subaru-kun has always had the scent of the witch lingering on him, it sometimes increased out of nowhere and it seemed to be building up… but now, it's almost imperceivable, if he was manipulated in any way by those disgusting animals, then his scent would have increased much more by now" They never quite figured out why exactly Subaru had such an odor, Rem always imagined it had to do with some kind of curse imposed on him, but no matter how many times he was asked, he always avoided the question.

"I don' care how he came back! JUST LET ME SEE EM''" The blond boy was tired of staying silent in his seat, if his captain was back, then he wanted to see him immediately, there was no need to speculate for reasons, his captain was always special, he probably just beat death and came back like the badass he was!

"We can go see him, but please be as quiet as you can, while Subaru is in a deep sleep, loud noises could still wake him up" With this said, Reinhard watched them nod one by one, with his confirmation he began to lead the way.

Finally, they were before the door that housed the sleeping Subaru, Reinhard could tell most were pretty nervous behind him and he didn't want to extend their anxiousness any longer, so he finally opened the door and entered the room.

They surrounded his bed, Garfiel let a few stray tears fall from his eyes, while he fell to his knees with a small but noticeable smile. Subaru was truly back, asleep for now, but his captain actually came back for them, he couldn't help feeling emotional.

Ram, was just shocked, they actually didn't lie, she couldn't believe her eyes, she felt as though she was about to cry, not that she would in front of all these people, he wouldn't let herself, but the sentiment was there, her little brother was alive.

Rem was incredibly happy her hero was back, with caveats sure, but he was alive and well and that's what was the most important thing for her. How she missed his adorably cute sleeping face she could watch for hours.

"Alright now that we are here there is one condition, I need you all to follow, without exception" Seeing as everyone was getting their emotional responses out of their systems, he figured now would be the best time to drop his proposal.

"And what is that Reinhard-sama?" Ram inquired, snapped out of her thoughts by the sword saint's words.

"Act as if you've never met Subaru when interacting with him" He dropped the cold water fast, he didn't want any confusion to be present like before.

"Haah, Why!?" Garfiel screamed out to the sword saint, in a low tone to not wake up his captain of course, enraged as if something preposterous was spoken.

"If he realizes we know him, he might get suspicious of us, if he gets suspicious, he'll start digging around and might find out about his past… then… he might leave us, I already discussed this with Felt-sama and she agreed that this was the best course of action" He expected such a response to be honest, thankfully Garfiel at least was mindful enough to not scream loud enough to wake Subaru.

"So, what? We need to lie to Subaru-kun!?" Rem was actually disgusted by his proposal, all the things Subaru did for them, and not only did they kill him, but now that he's back, they want to deceive him?

"If we want him to stay around then yes" Felt answered for Reinhard, this was the moment of truth, they had to convince them to actually follow through with their plan, both her and Reinhard had decided, and they were not backing down now.

"This is… that's wrong!" Even if her master ordered her to do so, she couldn't possibly lie to him that way! Subaru deserved better than that.

"No, perhaps it is for the best for him to stay in blissful ignorance" Ram thought about the proposition and while mulling it over found it agreeable.

"Why do you say that Nee-sama!?" Why were they all so willing to lie to him!? Weren't they his friends?! Even her sister was agreeing with them!

"Sister, imagine meeting people who already know you who you have no recognition of, then realizing that you were… hurt… by those same people in the past, wouldn't it be horrifying? Especially for Subaru, it's better for him to not know and to stay with us than to place that fear and paranoia in him" While she didn't enjoy lying to Subaru either, when she thought thing from his perspective Ram couldn't help but feel that not knowing what happened to him would be a blessing.

"But… still… I don't want to deceive him" She found some logic within her sister's argument, she still couldn't go through with it, it just wasn't right!

"It is necessary, Subaru has a tendency to attract trouble, if he were to leave this place who knows what might happen to him? Right now, we have an opportunity to protect him from the dangers of this world" Reinhard kept pushing her with facts, it was a fact nobody could deny that Subaru was a trouble magnet, he just needed to appeal to Rem's protectiveness of him and she'll agree!

"…Fine, I don' like this, but as long as my cap'n stays I'll play along" Garfiel spoke begrudgingly, hearing their arguments he could see that not telling his captain anything would probably be the best course of action.

"Garfiel-kun!?" Were they really going to have to lie to him? There had to be a better way to handle this right?

"Thank you for understanding Garfiel!" Reinhard beamed, 'Great great! Everyone's in agreement except for Rem'. Things were falling into place, the blue haired maid was a tougher nut to crack than he initially thought though.

"I get what yar sayin' Rem! I don' wanna lie to my Cap'n either! But it's better this way! He'll stay here with us! He'll be safe!" His feelings of abandonment were seeping into his words, he didn't want his captain to leave him again, he wouldn't be able to deal with it.

"I don't really think lying to the kid is the best idea, but I trust Felt, so if she says it's the best decision then who am I to disagree?" Rom's trust lied in her granddaughter, she is smarter than she looks, who isn't to say she knows something he doesn't?

Rem took a moment to think about it, she could acknowledge that they were Subaru's best chance at having safety and protection, it would be outrageous to say he would be safer anywhere else than the sword saint's home, and yet… her decision was still the same.

"I don't want to lie to Subaru-kun, it isn't fair to him nor to what he's done for us" Her tone was firm, she didn't want to budge from her position, there had to be a better way to go about this than lying.

Reinhard started to panic at her words, he wrongly assumed she'd be the one most willing and easy to convince from the attachment she previously displayed and how affected she was by his passing, he messed up. Things could go wrong here; he can't have her convincing the others of letting him go. Perhaps they could come to a compromise?

"How about this then Rem?" This was his last play, he needed this to work, he could tell she was at the very least considering their words so perhaps…

The blue haired maid looked at him straight in the eyes, indicating for him to continue with his proposal.

"Act like you haven't met him for at least two weeks, if after those weeks are over you still want to tell him the truth, then… so be it" He hoped to Od that this worked long enough to convince her to agree with them.

Rem considered the idea her proposed master; it would allow her to be with her hero for fourteen days and still be able to be truthful to him, it was still wrong in her mind, but if it was only a temporary thing, then she could indulge herself a bit, right?

"Just two weeks, correct?" She asked once more to confirm to herself that it was only temporary.

"Only two weeks"

Reinhard did not show it, but inside he was celebrating. 'Excellent! She agreed! Great, he got through to her! For now at least, however, that does not mean that we're in the clear, while I do believe and hope that she will change her mind in two weeks' time, if interacting with Subaru is not enough for her then… I'll have to use that one'

The divine protection of mind changing. A power he had sealed away after making another of his many mistakes, from the time his father had yet to realize the monster his son was. He had promised to never use such a power ever again, but in this situation would it not help Subaru?

If a promise was broken for the wellbeing of his friend, then it would be fine right? He was sure Rem would come around and understand leaving the past be the past so there was no need to worry about actually using it.

And even if it did come down to it, it benefitted everyone to keep Subaru around! Rem was probably just being sentimental and speaking before thinking so there is no need to worry! It's just a precaution so that she doesn't make a mistake, and if she does arrive at the wrong answer, then he'll just fix her, and everything will be fine!

His smile widened as he overlooked everyone in the room, satisfied that everyone agreed to protect Subaru. 'I may not be able to be forgiven but I can atone! Everyone can! And we'll all be happy! We just have to let past mistakes be forgotten in the past!'

Neither Grimm nor Carol talked throughout neither discussion, they never met Natsuki Subaru personally, all they knew is that he was considered a hero that slew the two of the great mabeasts, including the one who killed Theresia, which made Carol have extreme respect for the boy. Still, even though they knew how much his deaths affected the people he was close to, the way everyone was acting, just felt wrong.

While most were overjoyed at the return of the black-haired boy, some couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.

"On the plus side though, that at least means Chapter 3 should come out waaay earlier, since it's mostly already done and hopefully chapters don't take 2 months for such short lengths"

Well, it didn't take two months! Only half a year!

I am so, so, sorry, there isn't even a good reason for not uploading a new chapter, I was just procrastinating hard.

Like I did everything but write for this thing, playing Elden Ring, the resident evil remakes, 100% Kirby and Cuphead, trying to beat DOOM Eternal on Ultra Nightmare, trying my very first fallout game (New Vegas) and getting absolutely hooked.

Rewatching Wendigoon's entire conspiracy iceberg twice, watching Breaking Bad for the first time with my family and also getting completely hooked. I started hanging out with my friends more than before, we even went to Disney World recently!

I also got diagnosed with depression, which was unfortunate, but that didn't really have anything to do with me not writing, I just didn't feel the drive to do so for a while and thought I could just do it later.

And later I did, jesus I noticed yesterday how long it's been, I was genuinely floored that 6 months passed jeez, but at least that made me want to get off my ass and to start writing, well I guess it's more like sitting my ass down, but you get the idea.

Seeing the guy who wrote "Stars that form the future" giving up on the story because of his lack of motivation and finding writing the story a chore was my wake up call to continue with my story, since I really do enjoy writing this story, even if I'm slow as fuck doing it, I have the story planned out and have many ideas that excite me, I really don't want them to go to waste.

The ending to this fic is the only thing that worries me slightly, I like it, but I'm really nervous of people thinking it's shit and thinking the story got wasted either from poor execution or a badly written ending.

Still, I want to power through, so I'll continue doing this thing, even if I have grandchildren and am on life support by the end.

I'm feeling a bit nervous about including Grimm and Carol, they are not important characters to the plot, but I want to get them right still, but I'm not sure I understand them very well, so if anyone can give me some advice on that, it would be very appreciated.

I also kind of want to make a separate unique fic later, it's an Earth AU, but not really, so I want to do that too.

There was a guy in the reactionist discord a while back that asked me when this chapter would release, mind you this was a while back, and me in my hubris told him that it would be done either that day or the next.

Wordlyrun, if you're reading this, I am so sorry I deceived you, my dumbass actually thought I would finish a chapter in time, I apologize dude.

Speaking of the discord, just now as I'm writing this I saw some guys discussing how dead both my and the continued fics are.

Black power ranger and co. this one goes out to you!

I really hope I wrote this right, I'm actually really nervous lol.

Anyway, next chapter is going to be some context for what happened in between Subaru's return and his death, so stay tuned for that next year, unless you want to see some fluff first, it can go either way to be honest.

Other than that, I think I exhausted everything I could say, so I hope you all enjoyed the chapter after so long, I hope I can be less of a lazy ass and pump these out faster, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

P.S. Someone should make a Breaking Bad react fic, it'd be cool! Haha, just kidding… unless? ツ