Nursing A Saint

by The Writing Pupil

When Theresia was struck down by her grandson and was right at the edge of death's doors she was willing to accept it and find peace. Well that was until she heard her grandson's voice and suddenly regained the urge to live. To see and talk to her family at least one last time, and Od gave her said wish in a form of a raven-haired knight with Nasty eyes who managed to save her life

This fic is for my friend Json. He's a wonderful artist, friend, and this fic was an exchange for him drawing me some art. Bro went far beyond and not drew only one, two, not even three but four pieces of art work for me all for the low-low price of free. This is for you my guy here is your Subaru and Theresia fluff.

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Her vision was getting blurry, her breathing began to slow down, and her eyelids felt heavy. She could feel the blood dripping out of the large gash in the center of her stomach, but it caused her no discomfort. It was a miracle that she wasn't split in half. It was even more of a miracle that she wasn't dead. The wound that had been inflicted upon her by her grandson, the current Sword Saint of this generation, would've killed anyone.

Yet somehow she was still breathing. Maybe it was a side effect of the revival spell that turned her into a mindless puppet for the Witch Cult, or better yet, maybe this was Od's gift to the previous Sword Saint. Either way, for whatever reason, she was still alive but for how long? A few seconds? Another minute? It didn't matter, not anymore.

The wound on her stomach was too great, and she was losing so much blood; there was a large pool forming around her body. Even if somehow a healer manages to reach her, it would be nearly impossible to save her life. She had a feeling in her heart that the wound wouldn't even be able to heal. She had been cut by the Sword Saint after all.

Her grandson, Reinhard Van Astrea, had inherited everything from her including her blessing, the same blessing she had used to cut down thousands of demi-humans during the war as well as kill possibly hundreds of people during her time as a mind-controlled puppet for the cult. The divine blessing of God of Death prevented a wound, no matter how small, from healing, causing the victim to die a painful death.

She had used it so many times it would only be fitting that she would suffer the painful effects of her own blessing.

She was really going to die this time. She wouldn't come back to hurt anyone else.

The Sword Saint Reinhard, as well as the remaining family she had, would make sure of it. Never again would the previous Sword Saint, Theresia Van Astrea, be revived to be used.

This time she would be at peace. True peace.

No longer would she have to be a tool for her nation as the ultimate instrument of war, and at the very least, for the last time in this life, she could see her husband.

Her beautiful, kind, and loving husband held her as she faded. Oh, how fate was cruel and the years had gone by for the two of them. She still remembered that handsome young, prideful brown-haired idiot who lived by the blade and always tried to impress her. He was gone now and in his place was an old man with white hair and a beard who was much more mature than her idiot.

She was happy to see the man he was and she was glad she had the chance to declare her love for him. That was her one regret when she died all alone she never had the chance to say goodbye. But ironically, thanks to the Witch Cult, she did. Oh, how warm her soul felt after hearing that he still held feelings for her.

She truly felt like she could pass on into the afterlife with no interruptions. What else could a woman want? Dying in the arms of their love, saying goodbye with a small smile on his face with a beautiful scenario behind the two of them.

She had no regrets, none at all, this was the perfect way to go. "Mother….."

The dying saint heard a voice enter her ears. It was rough and had the tone of someone who had gone through what she could only describe as years of torment. Theresia tried her best to move her gaze towards the sound of the voice, but she was too weak. She could feel her life draining with each sound of her blood hitting the ground.

"Mother, I-"

The voice once again spoke, this time being followed by footsteps that were getting closer and closer in her direction. She wanted to move, she wanted to turn her neck and see the source that sounded so familiar to her, but she was still too weak. Luckily enough, she didn't have to move a single muscle because behind Wilhelm, the source of the voice revealed itself.

Right behind Wilhelm was a large muscular man with red hair. He had some patches of red hair all around his chin too.

More importantly of all, he had her eyes.

She saw this man just a few moments ago during her final battle, ready to cut him cleanly in half if it wasn't for the interference of her grandson.

"Hei…kel…" Theresia whispered weakly. She tried to open her mouth to speak again but no words escaped. She was getting more tired by the second.

It was only a matter of time. But damn it she wanted to save more time.

Now, seeing her son right before her eyes, all she wanted to say was how sorry she was to allow him to see her in such a state, to tell him how proud she was of him.

"There's so much I want to talk to you about, so much I want to say. I-"

Those were the only words Theresia could hear before, like a cruel joke, her hearing suddenly went out. Her body followed. A cool embrace took over her entire body.

She recognized this feeling. This was death's way of telling her that in just a few seconds, he was coming to take her.

No, this couldn't be happening, not right now! Her son was right in front of her, she could watch his lips move to form words, but she couldn't hear them. Her vision began fading into darkness more and more with each passing second, the cold looming feeling of death hanging over her ready to take her back to where she truly belonged, yet she didn't want to go at least not yet.

When Theresia saw Wilhelm and spoke to him for a final time, she thought she could move on peacefully, but now looking at Heinkel, there was so much left to do, so many people to say goodbye to.

She needed to spend more time with Wilhelm talk and see how Heinkel and his wife were doing. She even wanted to see her grandson, Reinhard. What a cute, adorable child he was when her powers transferred to him. She knows how it's like to be the Sword Saint, being nothing more but a title and tool for the country you serve.

Just a day, just one more day, that was all she asked for any power above the heavens that were listening. Just a single day to be with her family. She didn't want to die just yet, not until she had the chance to say goodbye to them all-

"P-"

Theresia tried to speak before her vision went completely black. For the second and final time, Theresia closed her eyes, and death had claimed her.

However, death did not anticipate a mysterious raven-haired boy to stumble upon the body of the fallen saint.

The moment Theresia had closed her eyes, in what felt like a few minutes, she reopened them. This time she was no longer in the bloodied and ruined streets of Pristella in her lover's arms. She was in a bed, a comfortable one at that with a silky, ornate, and clean white fabric that could only belong to that of nobility and by the looks of it –a room embellished with beautiful paintings, golden furniture, and a large cabinet and drawers–a very wealthy noble.

Though this room was of nobility, one thing was certain. This room was not the Astrea Manor, or at least from her current memory, it couldn't be. Compared to this room, the entirety of the Astrea manor couldn't even compare to it in the slightest. Sure, the Astrea manor was fine and well-kept with lots of other golden artifacts, but this entire room made it look like nothing in comparison. Yet, it wasn't only the state of the room that made her ask herself if she was truly back home or not.

It was a simple fact that just a few moments prior, she was dying. No, the moment she closed her eyes, she was dead. She had to be. She felt the familiar feeling of her soul leaving her body, but here she was. She could still feel oxygen entering and exiting her nose. She could feel her heart beating rapidly while the blood in her veins rushed through her body.

Could it be possible that she was still alive? Did Od indeed give her another chance? She hoped so, but she couldn't find out until she got out of this bed. At least she didn't have to worry about there being any cultists in this strange building. If there was one thing she knew for sure after witnessing the witch cult's carnage, they're like rats hiding in the darkest parts of the shadows. Places like these were extremely unlikely to be invested.

Slowly, Theresia began removing the smooth sheet, and much to her surprise, the wound that nearly cut her body in half was wrapped neatly in bandages. She could still see how deep the wound was with faint traces of her blood popping out through the layers and layers of wrapping. It must've taken ages for them to stabilize such a wound. When she meets those who saved her, she most certainly would thank them before leaving. Surely, even in her state, they would understand why she needed to leave; she had a family to see again.

She could already see them in her mind right now: Heinkel, Wilhelm, Reinhard. Oh, how she couldn't wait to join them again.

Without further hesitation, the Sword Saint carefully exited the nearly made bed.

"Argh!"

The second Theresia's feet were planted on the ground, she felt a sharp pain echo from her wound. The pain was so strong and unbearable, that it didn't take long for the saint to drop onto her knees. Her entire body would've hit the ground if it wasn't for the simple fact that the bed was so close to her, almost like it was waiting to catch her fall.

'It hurts, it hurts, it still hurts!' Theresia hissed as she held onto her bandaged stomach. She could've sworn for a second that the wound had reopened.

'Just being on my knees makes the pain worse, but I can't stand. My legs feel so weak.'

Quickly, Theresia checked her surroundings to look for something to aid her back onto the bed, but there was nothing. She knew she couldn't use her upper body strength to push herself back up. It was like any energy her body had stored transferred into focusing on healing the wound.

The saint could do nothing but simply stay on the floor, helpless.

Suddenly, she heard three soft knocks coming from the brown door inside the room.

"Hello, are you awake? I don't want to interrupt you if you are, so I'll just wait I'mma wait here for ten more seconds," the voice behind the door spoke. The tone sounded like it belonged to a boy. It was kind and gentle, but at the same time, it sounded like it belonged to someone just entering the adult stage of their life.

"Y-yes! I'm awake, but if it isn't too much trouble, can you please enter right away. I-I fell off the bed."

Without even replying, the door slammed open and revealed a boy. He wore a mix of black, orange, and white-colored outfit that she has never seen, but what made him stand out the most was his hair. Black hair that was slicked back with three pointy spikes in the middle, It was just as strange as his outfit.

Almost instantly, his eyes darted around the room before they landed on the fallen saint. She didn't know what he was truly thinking at the time but just from how he acted, she could tell he was truly worried about her health. That was made even clearer when the moment their gaze met, he let out a small sigh of relief as if expecting her situation to be much worse than it was now, but of course, he had a reason too.

"Are you ok?" the boy asked politely, kneeling by her side and slowly began helping her up.

Even with the help of the raven-haired boy, just standing up was much more painful than it could ever be. She wanted to scream and cry, but without saying so much as a word of her struggles, she remained silent to the aching pain the wound sent across her entire body.

"I'm really sorry for the trouble," she groaned out while being placed back onto the bed. She wanted at first to at least sit on top of the bed and make eye contact with the boy who possibly not only saved her life, but also aided her a few moments ago. Unfortunately, she was still too weak to do so. Just sitting down seemingly made the wound worse, she could feel her skin being ripped back open with each attempt trying to stand up tall.

So she did the only thing she could. She laid her body flat on its back on the bed's sheets and the pain instantly disappeared. Her body was still sore due to still feeling the after-effects of the pain she inflicted on herself due to her foolish actions, but it could always be worse.

"Nah, it's really all good, trust me, I had my fair share of falling out of the bed, especially when I'm sick," he responded back with a soft smile. "Are you feeling, ok? The wound didn't open back up, did it?"

The saint took only a second to look back down at her bandages before looking back up at the boy.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. The wound doesn't seem to be opening. I felt a small tear, but it's nothing to worry you about."

"A small tear?! That is something I should worry about! I need to get Beako ASAP! Who knows what that small tear you felt could lead to!" The raven-haired boy declared aloud before instantly turning around, ready to rush out the door, but he was quickly stopped by the weak hand of the red-haired saint before him.

"P-please, you've done enough. It's really nothing you should worry about. I really don't want to trouble you any further," she pleaded.

"What do you mean you don't want to trouble me any further?! You're the one nearly dying here! it's like getting your entire arm cut off and saying it's nothing but a scratch."

"I promise you that I'm ok, really. Thank you for taking the time to care for me, but I only need some rest." Theresia once again pleaded this time with a small, forced smile.

The room turned deathly silent. The previous sword saint had hoped her smile, the same smile she had used many times before, would reach the boy's heart as it did many others. Strangely enough, it had the opposite effect.

Her raven-haired caretaker now had a frown, but he didn't look angry. He only looked disappointed. She could see it in his sharp eyes. Though she didn't know a single thing about him. The way he was staring at her, it was like he's dealt with this before as if he's seen things.

Death, that's what he's seen. she was sure of it. She had seen that type of look coming from soldiers during the time of the demi-human war, especially broken soldiers. The type of soldiers that hid their pain and emotions deep inside their hearts behind a smile just like she was right now, but that didn't make sense. Surely, life after the demi-human war had been peaceful. No way this young boy had the gaze of the most battle-hardened.

Yet, she could see it.

"I'm going to go get Beatrice to check up on you. It never hurts to make sure you're ok. I understand if you don't want to trouble me, but I want to trouble myself with you," Subaru finally spoke after a moment of silence, breaking Theresia out of his entrancing gaze. Without a second thought, he turned and prepared to walk out the door.

"I-" Theresia tried to speak, but just as quickly as she opened her mouth, Subaru cut her off and with a smile, he said, "No butts, plus I want you to be in mint condition when you finally meet with Wilhelm. This time it can be a proper reunion."

"..." Theresia could say nothing at the mention of her husband's name. Any words of protest she might have had were pushed back.

"So please, for the time being, let me trouble myself with you." With those simple words, he paused for a moment, seeing if she'd respond, but when he got none, he simply smiled to himself and began to walk away.

Ironically enough, the moment he took a single step forward, Theresia quickly spoke back up, stopping him completely in his tracks.

"W-wait, if it isn't too much trouble to ask, how do you know my husband?"

"Well I did meet him once when he visited on some royal selection business, but I did get to know him when we went hunting for the giant whale that killed you. Even in his old age he was crazy in love with you, even yelled it out to the heavens when he finally struck down that massive thing."

"The White Whale… he killed it in order to avenge me?" Theresia said in a barely audible whisper as she turned her head towards the raven-haired boy.

That's right. That's how she died, didn't she? She went on a mission to fight the white whale. She was doing some good damage to it before suddenly, her blessing disappeared and transferred over to her grandson, Reinhard. Yet, for some reason, her head ached as she tried to truly remember how she had fallen during the battle. It was like some spots were missing. Yes, she lost her blessing, and yes, she died to the White Whale, but that wasn't the full story.

That couldn't be the full story. Theresia flipped through her memories and in a flash, she saw something.

No, someone.

It was a child, a child with platinum silver hair smiling and talking to her, but for some reason, she took up her sword ready to attack and kill her but what for?

Whatever the reason, it didn't matter now. What did matter right now was the raven-haired young man talking to her about Wilhelm. Her heart couldn't help but flutter hearing how many years after her death, she still had his heart.

In his old age, he went to challenge the White Whale. All for her.

Oh, when she'd see him again, she would give him a long kiss. And a slap. Not all good comes from being reckless.

"Yeah, he really does love you. He hasn't gotten remarried, and I don't think he ever will, but yeah, he's ok."

"That does sound like Wilhelm. Thank you for telling me this, I- I'm glad to have this chance to talk to him again, to talk to everyone again. I want to talk to my son and grandson again, and have a massive family feast."

"That sounds like a great idea! Well, if you want to put that amazing idea into action, let's get you healed up first and surprise everyone. I kinda forgot to mention that no one knows you're alive yet, sorry about that," Subaru spoke in a quiet tone, turning his head away from the bedridden woman in complete and utter embarrassment. Maybe he should've started with that first.

Great, now the woman who was thanking him would surely be angry with him for keeping this news hidden, but to his surprise, she wasn't mad. In fact, it was the opposite; it was like her smile got bigger.

"It's ok, I prefer it this way. A pleasant surprise is the best way to greet someone, right?"

"You, my beautiful lady, are a million percent correct!" Subaru nearly screamed out while gesturing a thumbs up. "Now sit back, relax, and let me get someone to make sure your road to recovery is smooth sailing for your dream to come true."

"Before you go, I have one more question. Mind telling me your name?"

"The name's Natsuki Subaru! Spirit and only knight of the beautiful silver-haired half-elf Emilia, and also the same person that found and saved your life," he declared loudly while striking an odd yet charming pose.

"Well, Natsuki Subaru, my name is Theresia Van Astrea, and I thank you wholeheartedly for saving my life," she replied with a smile. This time her smile was genuine without any ounce of forced muscle strain. Her real smile had not gone unnoticed to the raven-haired boy who just marveled at the sight of it.

'I understand why Wilhelm fell for her, her smile is almost as worth protecting as Emilia-tan's.' Subaru thought to himself before speaking aloud. "Get some rest. I'll be back in just a bit."

"I'm not going anywhere, not like I can in my condition."

Without another word, the two exchanged smiles once more and Natsuki Subaru left the injured Saint alone in the bed.

Subaru only took a short five minutes, but in those five minutes, Theresia had so much time to think about everything that happened so far. The witch-cult, the innocent people she murdered in cold blood, and worst of all, Wilhelm.

Wilhelm was always a prideful man. To her best memory, he was always battle-hungry, ready to lay his life on the line for any given chance to claim honor, but when she was dying in his arms, he looked so different. It wasn't just his age but his entire demeanor had changed. Of course, she knew that with time comes wisdom, but to think he's changed so much in a blink of an eye still astounds her.

At least one thing never changed: his love.

Subaru said it himself. Wilhelm never once remarried, and he fought and slew the whale at such an old age in order to avenge her. His love for her would never change, not even in a million years and the same would go for her, right?

She didn't really know.

Wilhelm spoke those three simple enchanting words on her deathbed, but it could've just been at the moment. It could've been nothing but words of comfort he uttered one last time to help her pass on peacefully.

There was still blood on her hands. She tortured innocent people, murdered them, and even drew her blade against her own family. So what if she was being controlled by the witch cult, she was still at fault. If she was in their place, even with the knowledge of her dead body being revived and being used as a puppet, she would always be tense around whoever tried hurting her.

'Reinhard, he must hate me.'

It was ironic that the battle that would decide her fate would be against her grandson Reinhard, the current Sword Saint of this generation. She would never forget that look in his eyes when her sword clashed against hers. It was the same look she had on her face during the demi-human war.

A blank stare filled with little to no emotion, just staring ahead. He didn't look at her as if she was his grandmother. In his eyes, she was an enemy, an enemy that had attempted to murder not only his grandfather but also his father. It was truly no surprise how he simply cut her down with absolutely no hesitation. After all, she would've done the exact same.

Yet, now with her being in full control of her own mind and body, this time she could face Reinhard and have a proper conversation, but how could that work? It isn't an easy thing to have a proper conversation with someone who nearly tried to kill the people you care about deeply, even if it was a family member being under control. What could she say when she finally sees her grandson after all this time, she's sorry, and she wants to catch up on everything like their battle never happened.

Well, she had plenty of time to think to herself about it with this injury she has. It could take possibly weeks for her to recover fully. Hell, she even had plenty of time right now alone with her thoughts and the memories of what happened during that fateful day.

Theresia soon hears a child's voice a good distance away from her room door.

"Betty still isn't sure if this is a good idea, I suppose."

"I'm sure everything is going to be ok, Beako. She didn't try to kill me or escape the moment she woke up so that's a win!" She heard Subaru's voice reply back in his usual cheerful and upbeat tone.

"Your standards are low in fact,"

"What do you mean my standards are low?!"

"Half-elf, that's all I can say in fact," Betty responded, sounding a bit more disappointed in what her friend had to say.

"If you're talking about Emilia-tan just so you know anyone who seeks her heart has amazing standards!" Subaru protested.

"Let's just get this over with already. Betty still wants to finish eating those 'cinnamon rolls' as you call it."

"Now that's just cannibalism" Subaru gave a light chuckle as he finally made his way in front of Theresia's door.

Now that Subaru was right outside of Theresia's door, she could not only fully see him but also the person she was talking to. From the sound of the girly child-like voice, she made some assumptions, but she simply chalked it off to a woman with a child-like voice and a weird speaking demeanor.

However, she did not expect the source of the voice to belong to an actual child or, from her standpoint, at least someone who had to be a child. The girl had blonde drilled ponytails wearing an elegant pink dress. She was holding her friend's hand as if he was her older brother. Yet, she paid her no mind as her blue butterfly-shaped eyes were staring directly at Theresia with a completely indifferent expression.

"Sorry I took so long, Theresia, but I'm here now," Subaru said with a small wave and bright smile as he let himself in while practically dragging his friend inside. "This here is my partner in crime a

"Oh, hello little girl." Theresia smiled and gave a small wave.

"Betty is not a little girl, and over 400 years old in fact!" Beatrice corrected almost instantly. Her neutral expression completely disappeared, being replaced with a small frown. "Compared to Betty you are a child in fact,"

"Wait what!" Theresia shot up instantly at the words that escaped the little girl's mouth. "Is this true Subaru, she looks barely older than 8."

For a few moments, Theresia could do nothing but stare at the now very annoyed child up and down. No matter how much she tried to ration it in her mind, there could be no way this little girl was 400 years old. Hell, if she was 400 then Theresia was there at the beginning of time itself. Who knew children could have such overactive imagination? Well, she would be lying to herself if she didn't imagine at least once throughout her childhood she was some kind of old magical sage.

Seeing the complete confusion on Theresia's face while his friend was boiling up to the point where she stretched out her hands in an attempt to strangle the ignorant woman, Subaru couldn't help but chuckle for a few seconds before speaking.

"As cute and childish as my little Beako is," Subaru began as he started patting the fuming child on the head in order to calm her nerves, "she is 400 years old, though she certainly doesn't act like it."

"What, no one can be over 400 years old unless…"

"Now you're getting the idea I suppose." Beatrice instantly cut off the saint from her train of thought the very moment she finally began to put two and two together. A smirk appeared right on her face for the entire world to see. "Betty is a great spirit, a wise old great spirit in fact."

The moment those words hit Theresia's ears, an overwhelming amount of shame and embarrassment came over her. She just called a great spirit, a 400-year-old being wiser than the wisest, more powerful than the majority of the world's population, a child like it was nothing. When she was alive and gaining her education on how to be a proper Sword Saint, there was one thing they drilled into her other than fighting, and that was proper etiquette.

Year after year, she had been told how to properly dress, what kind of tone and pitch her voice should have, and more importantly how to address people. Time and time again, she had been taught to treat others with respect and not say anything out of line especially to random strangers you never know their importance. However, seemingly when she died and got brought back to life all the lessons, she was taught faded from her mind as well.

She not only insulted a spirit, but she insulted a GREAT spirit at that. It was a miracle that Beatrice didn't blast on the spot or Subaru got mad at her knowing all too well how spirit users are when it comes to their little allies.

"I-I'm so sorry for my disrespect, Great Spirit-Sama!" Theresia spoke quickly as she bowed her head.

"That's better, I suppose," Beatrice responded with a small smirk, taking a lot more satisfaction than expected now with her head hung before her. She would have taken the sight in more and state her constant need for attention if it wasn't for the fact her contractor felt the need to pinch her cheek.

"No, bad! Bad Beako," Subaru teased as he pulled harder on the poor spirit's defenseless cheek. "Don't worry about it, Theresia. While she's 400 years old, Beako can still be pretty childish just like you saw now," he chuckled slightly.

"Unhand Betty's buccal right now, it hurts in fact!" Beatrice nearly screamed out to the heavens while doing all she could do to escape her contractor's pinches of death. She dug his nails into his fingers, tried biting off his fingers, hell even tried using her signature mana draining technique in order to get him tired enough to set her free. Nothing worked and with each passing second, her cheeks were turning more and more red.

"Not until you say sorry for making Theresia flustered. I saw that Beako, your smug grin, and now you must apologize!" he said, pinching her cheeks even harder than before.

"What?!" Theresia yelped as she shook her head rapidly. "Please, the only person who deserves an apology in this room is Great-Spirit-Sama here!" Once again, she bowed her head. "Again I would like to apologize to you Great Spirit-Sama for not acknowledging you by your rightful title at first. You have every right to be angry with me."

For a few seconds, the room was nothing but dead silence. Theresia still had her head bowed, Beatrice was still trying to escape her contractor grasp, and lastly, Subaru who was just staring shocked at what he just heard. From the stories he heard from both Wilhelm and the history books that outline the history of the Sword Saint family, it was said that Theresia was always described as humble.

Now seeing it in action, Wilhelm and the books were right, she was indeed humble. A lot of people in her place, Subaru included, once given the green light, would've teased Beako endlessly. Theresia, on the other hand, was different from the rest. She was heavily injured and just the simple action of bowing her head was probably causing her a great amount of pain, but she was acting like nothing is happening.

The room was still for another second before it was interrupted by Subaru who simply let out a loud sigh, and a smile took over his face. With that, he just simply let go of Beatrice's now very bright red cheeks.

"Beako, we got really side-tracked. Can you please check on Theresia's wound? She might have opened it slightly when she fell out of bed."

"After pinching Betty's cheeks like that, now you expect me to help you? It's ridiculous in fact!" Beatrice whined, rubbing her cheeks over and over. Once they settled a little, she turned to her contractor ready to give him the rant of a lifetime, but he managed to quell her rage with five simple words.

"I'll give you a hundred headpats." Subaru paused for dramatic effect. "I'll even give you my entire uneaten cinnamon roll on top of it."

"..."

"You are lucky Betty is really forgiving I suppose," Beatrice spoke in a soft whisper, turning away from her contractor and focusing solely on the red-haired woman.

Without any further delay, Beatrice, with a little bit of aid from Subaru due to her being a tad short, got on the bed by herself. The great spirit and the red-haired woman were staring at one another, eye to eye. Beatrice gave a slight motion of her hands signaling for Theresia to lay down who had no trouble following the simple command.

Once Theresia was completely flat on her back, Beatrice wasted no time. A little bright light emitted from her hand, and with that light, she placed it above the wound before closing her eyes. With the bright light above her wound, Theresia felt almost immediate relief. All the pain she was experiencing beforehand disappeared like it never even existed.

Even her energy spiked as well, the fatigue that came with the pain replaced by a rushing waterfall of pure energy. Theresia felt like she could jump off this bed, circle around the world, and beat 100 men in a single night without breaking so much sweat. That was the power of healing magic for you, closing in both your wounds and giving you the energy, you lost.

But, that moment was fleeting.

After a few seconds, Beatrice reopened her eyes, the bright light disappeared, and pain returned, but this time slightly better. Theresia wanted to scream or make some kind of noise indicating that fact but she had troubled them enough, and she didn't want to make them worry any further so she kept shut.

"Mmm, the wound was slightly opened, but it wasn't too bad, I suppose." Beatrice stared at her wound for a few seconds humming in the process before carefully jumping off the bed. "Betty was able to close it, but you got lucky. It's a miracle it didn't fully reopen. You need to stay in this bed and do nothing but rest, in fact."

"Oh…I expected to hear that response, but for how long will I be staying here, Great Spirit-Sama?" Theresia lowered her gaze. She did all she could to resist the urge of biting her lips. Not only was she causing more trouble and taking up the time of a great spirit and this kind boy who saved her, but she couldn't see them just yet.

Beatrice lets out a low hum before giving an answer. "About two to three weeks I suppose."

"Two to three weeks?!" Subaru screamed out. His voice felt like it nearly shook the entire room. His cries and the look on his face caused Theresia's mood to plummet even further, but she understood. He probably expected to take her off for another day or two, but because of her foolish actions, he had to be stuck on babysitting duties for the next two to three weeks.

"Yes, I suppose. Is something the matter taking care of her for so long I wonder."

"No No no no!" Subaru cut Beatrice off, waving his hands and shaking his head violently. "Not that.I'm honestly relieved it's much sooner than I expected."

"What?" Theresia's eyes widened.

"Theresia, you were nearly cut in half. Like right down the middle with only a few bits of flesh holding you together." Subaru began with a wide and bright smile. "I honestly expected Beatrice to say 'she wouldn't be ready to even walk for another year I suppose.'"

"Your impression of Betty is completely terrible, I suppose." Beatrice tsked in annoyance, but she gained no reaction from her contractor other than a head pat.

"Besides, I would be honored to nature and take care of Wilhelm's wonderful wife and return her safely in his arms!"

"Subaru, are you sure that's ok? I am perfectly fine in going those low inc-"

"Shush!" Subaru cut her off like the rude man he is. "As I said before, I want to trouble myself with you."

"..." Theresia once again opened her mouth to speak in protest, but just like last time, no words could escape.

"So please, my wonderful guest, sit back, relax, and let your personal butler knight for the time being, Natsuki Subaru take care of you for these next two weeks that you will never forget!" Subaru shouted to the heavens as he once again stuck his weird pose, one finger pointing up at the ceiling.

Right there, Subaru expected a small chuckle and laugh out of Theresia before she finally concedes and lets him deal with her for these two weeks. He would make sure she would never forget him.

There was no reaction. She simply tilted her head to the side slightly in complete confusion.

Oh no, this couldn't be good, Subaru thought, his finger drooping a bit. He's seen that look in people's eyes before. He messed something up didn't he? Was the pose not as good as last time?

Theresia's lips parted, and out came two simple words.

"Butler knight?"

"Hmmm, he didn't tell you his position in this manor, I suppose?" Beatrice raised an eyebrow while giving her contractor the biggest look of disappointment he's ever seen.

"No." Theresia shook her head. "He said, 'butler knight', is he a butler working for this mansion?"

"W-well. I used to be a butler but got the position of a knight, so I am technically a knight at least in title anyhow." Subaru sheepishly answered while rubbing the back of his head.

"I see…" she murmured to herself. "Then taking care of me is fully unacceptable."

"HUH?!"

"As a knight serving a master, you mustn't burden yourself with affairs of another person," she began as she once again bowed her head. "Sir Natsuki, please allow one of the servants in this manor to take care of me instead. It is too much work to constantly check on me and do your knightly duties every day."

"Wait wait wait!" Subaru began screaming, shaking his head back and forth so hard the two girls in the room thought it was going to fall off completely. "I may be a knight, but I'm rarely ever busy beside the occasional pointless meetings."

"That's the thing, Sir Natsuki," Theresia speaks in a more professional tone than the presence of two high-ranking officials. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but I know a thing or two about being a knight. It is a very stressful and busy job, even when it seems like you have free time."

"Listen-" Subaru tried to speak, but could only get one word out as the red-haired woman simply shook her head and began speaking.

"Believe me, I am grateful for you saving my life, but your duties as a knight are more important. Surely, there are other servants that could take your place and use your time well instead of me."

This time there was an unknown fire in Theresia's eyes that shook him to the core. It was kind, caring, and considerate, but at the same time, it wouldn't relent. Subaru could already see it now every time he would try to speak. Theresia would just shake her head and refuse his services.. He wanted to counter what the previous Sword-Saint said, but nothing came out of his throat. What else could he say?

He turned his head to the side and simply stared at Beatrice who seemingly read his mind and answered back with a simple shrug and turned her attention elsewhere.

What could he do? Well, he could follow through her request and get another servant in the manor to aid her. It wasn't his job, after all. His job was that of a knight, and there was absolutely no reason for him to be so insistent on wanting to take care of the injured Sword Saint.

At least in Thereisa's eyes, there was no reason besides the burden of saving a life, she understood that feeling all too well. Once a life has been saved by your own hands, it is important to check on them constantly to make sure they make a full recovery. Yes, saving a life was one thing, but seeing that life being maintained was an entirely different matter, and that was exactly what was going on in Subaru's head; it just had to be.

"Theresia, listen," he began taking a deep breath as he stared into her bright sky blue eyes reflecting the sunlight. "I swear on the dragon, yes, I am a knight, but the job is too boring and nothing interesting happens."

"Sir Natsuk-"

"And secondly!" Subaru immediately cuts her off, not feeling good about it whatsoever. "I just really want to get to know the girl Wilhelm fell in love with." The raven-haired boy began rubbing his head with embarrassment. "I kinda want us to become great friends, and this is the best way I can think of."

Once Subaru finished speaking, the room turned nearly dead silent. Subaru, the ant, had found a way to make the boulder that was Theresia stumble and now it was balancing on the edge. Theresia wanted to say something, she wanted to disagree and tell the knight to go about his day without worrying about her but now, hearing his reason, she wasn't sure now.

She could see in the boy's eyes that every word he spoke was genuine. He wanted to know her, he wanted to get along with her and to be honest, she did as well. This was one of Wilhelm's few and rare friends he's made, and she was sure, even in his old age, getting along or better yet befriending the Sword Demon was nearly as difficult as slaying the White Whale. Speaking of whales, Subaru was also present during the battle with the White Whale and helped take it down as well.

She also wanted to hear the story of how they were able to take down such a beast that took both hers and the lives of so many other men. It would be an honor to hear the story, plus as the bright side, she would make another friend. So many of her friends from her time must've fallen to old age, how would they react to seeing her still alive? Theresia had so many thoughts on her mind, so much to say, but she couldn't express those feeling into words, and Subaru was damn well not going to say another word until he gets his own answer.

"Finally, Betty's contractor finally reveals his true intentions I suppose." Beatrice was the one to interrupt this long silence, just doing nothing but shaking her head in complete disappointment not just at Subaru but also at the injured saint. "Can you both hurry it up? Betty wants to eat that second cinnamon roll right now, I suppose."

"Well, if Sir Natsuki insists, I think we should form a compromise," Theresia finally spoke with a small smile appearing across her face.

In honesty, while Subaru did hear what Theresia said in full, his mind focused on when she said he insisted that they would be forming a compromise that could potentially benefit them both.

"A compromise sure, a compromise is perfect!" he spoke with cheer. "What kind of compromise do you have in mind?"

Hearing the boy's words, Theresia smiled and lifted up her closed hand and extended one finger. "First off, no matter what, your knightly duties must come first. As a knight, your job comes above everything else, even me." She lifted another finger from her closed hand. "Second, you can visit me for a set period of time, just enough for us to have a full conversation but not too much where you can't perform your duties if needed."

"Ok…" Subaru murmured but scratched his chin. "I can visit you, but if knight stuff comes up, I have to, no matter what, attend to my knightly duties first, and I'm on a time limit."

"That's correct."

Seeing how the red-haired woman simply nodded at the boy's shortened version of her small demands, he could do nothing but sigh. This was probably the best he was going to get, and no way he was going back to the same song and dance. Man, he should've never said he was a knight, all because he thought it would sound cool.

Well, it did a little but that was beside the point.

"All right, that's a deal. I have so much I want to talk about with you and so much to talk about," Subaru simply spoke, his smile getting bigger and bigger as he began to go on what Beatrice feared was a long ramble. "I'll get to talk to you about the thousands and thousands of love stories Wilhelm has about you, how the White Whale hunting expedition went down, and hell even bat-

"Cinnamon rolls, and headpats now, I suppose." Beatrice immediately stopped her contractor's ramblings with a single pull of his tracksuit. Subaru looked over at his spirit, ready to decline her offer, but Beatrice seemingly sensed it and placed her hand on his stomach.

To Theresia, this move by the great spirit was a strange one, but she just assumed it was her way of saying 'please let's go'. However, to Subaru, this gesture was one that sparked complete and utter fear. He wanted to scream and run away, but if he even tried, Beatrice would have plenty of time to do her devilish deed.

"W-wait, Beako let's talk about this," Subaru begged in a soft whisper."Betty was promised cinnamon rolls and 120 headpats." She narrowed her gaze and stepped forward to her clearly frightened partner, her hand still on his stomach.

"Can it be later? Pretty, pretty please, it would be really rude to leave Theresia by herself especially-"

"Red-haired woman!" Beatrice called to Theresia but didn't bother to turn and face the girl she was addressing. She knew exactly what her contractor was going to finish saying so intervention was obviously needed. "Betty's contractor has very important knightly business happening 30 minutes from now, I suppose. Can you be alone until the morning?"

'No, Theresia-san! It's a lie!"

"Oh, of course, Great Spirit-Sama!" Theresia answered back quickly, almost exhaling all her breath.

'She fell for it!'

"It is a part of our deal that you put your knightly duties first after all."

At that moment, Subaru wanted to do nothing more than scream out that his partner, friend, and someone he considers a sister is currently threatening him, but just staring into Beatrice's cold yet beautiful butterfly eyes, one wrong move, one wrong word, and he was completely done for. So to save his own skin and not have the equivalent of a hangover, he simply nodded his head up and down repeatedly and said the words Beatrice wanted to hear the most.

"Y-yeah, knightly business." Subaru tried to keep his voice from shaking while taking a small step back. "I-I better go right now, don't want Emilia-tan to go to this very important meeting without a knight by her side.

"Of course, a knight must never leave their master's side no matter what!" Theresia shot back a supportive grin.

"We will be taking our leave."

"Take care, Sir Natsuki!"

"I'll visit you as soon as I can, pinky promise!" With that, the great spirit and her contractor left the room, leaving the previous Sword Saint alone with her thoughts once more, though she truly didn't mind. More time alone means more time for her to figure out what exactly she would say when the time comes to meet her family again.

Reinhard, Heinkel, Wilhelm, those three just can't leave her mind. All she could ask herself was how they were all doing. All she could do was make theories: Wilhelm probably hanged up his sword after avenging her death by the hands of the White Whale. Heinkel is probably a respected and loving father guiding Reinhard on his path as a Sword Saint.

Lastly, Reinhard.

Just from the look she saw when she faced down against him-the sheer seriousness, the urge to protect the ones he cares about– something in her heart said he surely was a worthy successor.

They were one big happy family, and it would be extended very soon the moment she recovered.

Oh, how she wished she could talk to them right now, but talking to Sir Natsuki and hearing about her family from an outsider's perspective would be pretty nice. After all, if he was able to be good friends with Wilhelm, surely, he's an amazing friend to everyone else as well. She felt almost excited to talk to Sir Natsuki, just like he had so much to tell her she had the urge to listen and ask a bunch of questions. For now, she would need to wait, for a knight's duties are almost the same as the Sword Saint's, never close to being done until retirement.

Staying true to his word, after Beatrice helped herself to Subaru's cinnamon rolls, and 500 headpats instead of the agreeable 100 (greedy Beatrice said the other 400 are "Tax fees"), he went to Theresia's room the very next day in order to check on her. Usually, in the past, he would just walk straight in, have a conversation, and leave, but due to the fact he was a knight now and that she was also sick, he decided to bring her a present.

To be flat-out honest, he truly didn't know what he could bring for Theresia since he didn't know anything about her besides the stories Wilhelm told him. All he knew was that she liked flowers, but what kind of flowers he didn't know, and he didn't know if she was allergic to certain types of flowers. So, he decided to fall back on his ability to sew together cute little dolls. It took all night, but he was able to fully make chibi dolls of Reinhard, Wilhelm, and begrudgingly Heinkel.

All three dolls had to be the best work. It had almost everything, their exact hairstyle and color, the clothes they usually wear, even the Heinkel doll has the little patches on his chin. Now, it was all to see if Theresia-tan liked it. If not, then he would simply throw them away and find some random flowers to collect.

"Theresia-tan, I'm back!" Subaru said cheerfully as he opened the door. Both his hands were behind his back, concealing all three dolls in hand.

"Oh! Welcome back, Sir Natsuki," Theresia responded, echoing his cheeriness.

"You know, you can just call me Subaru," Subaru sheepishly replied "Sir Natsuki is a little too professional for me, it's like I'm some kind of boss."

"Please, Sir Natsuki, it's disrespectful for me to address you as anything other than your title," Theresia sharply answered back which in turn caused Subaru to let out a loud sigh.

"Well, if you want to call me Sir Natsuki I won't complain." Subaru smiled, getting closer and closer to the saint's bed, still trying his best to keep the three wouldn't dolls out of eyesight. Of course, Theresia noticed it but decided to ignore it for now. "So, how are you feeling? Doesn't hurt as much right?"

"Oh yes, I feel a lot better actually. Thank you for asking, you didn't need to do so."

"You don't need to thank me for asking, as your caretaker, it's my job." Subaru almost chuckled at how kind the saint was. She was almost as kind as Emilia, the perfect angel in Subaru's eyes. "Speaking of which, it's also my responsibility to give you these three mint condition dolls made by yours truly!" Within an instant being right by Theresia's bed, Subaru unveiled his gift and clumsily dropped each of them on the bed.

At first, everything happened so fast and so suddenly, that Theresia almost couldn't blink. She knew by Subaru's demeanor and how terrible he was at hiding things she would be given a gift. Yet, she didn't expect any other gift than a row of flowers like so many had done in the past, but this was a nice change of pace.

Dolls, hand-crafted ones of all her loved ones, were right there in front of her for the taking. As a kid, she never truly had the opportunity to play with dolls due to her being given the blessing of the Sword Saint. At a young age, she was mostly trained to be the perfect weapon for the kingdom. She lost her childhood, but now she gets two-for-one deal: she gets to see a mini version of her family and also act like a kid a little bit.

Almost instantly, her hand moved first towards the nearly identical doll of the man she loves. He was old now and looked nothing like the reckless boy she once knew, but it was still him. Even as time changed, someone's soul could never change, and she could nearly feel connected to Wilhelm's very soul.

"This, this-" Theresia tried to speak as her small smile grew bigger as she held onto the Wilhelm doll for dear life, and then proceeded to grab the Heinkel doll and the Reinhard doll. "This is amazing, how did you capture their likeness so well? If they weren't so small, I could've been fooled into thinking they were real."

"All in the Natsuki Divine Protection of sewing," Subaru answered back with his own smile at his handy work. "I understand it's going to get a bit lonely here, and I don't want to bore you to death, so have these in the meanwhile." Subaru nodded over and over feeling great joy in making Theresia smile. "Mini-Reinhard is my favorite. It was kind of hard to add the sword but once I did, near perfection."

"Reinhard…" Theresia muttered silently as she lifted up the mini version of her grandson, almost instantly triggering the memories of their final encounter. "You know my grandson, right? Are you close with him?"

Subaru was, at first, caught off guard by the question, not truly because it surprised him ,and he did expect Theresia to ask questions about her family, but Reinhard was kinda a hard topic. Yes, they worked together back at Pristella to stop Greed and their conversations have been nice but he didn't apologize for his rude comment after the fall out with Julius. Were they friends?

"Yea, I guess you can say we're pretty good friends," Subaru answered after a few moments of silence, still unsure as to what his answer truly was. The way the two interacted could be considered as friendship, but he didn't know if Reinhard took his comment to heart.

"Can you please tell me what he's like? I know he's the Sword Saint, but I haven't had the chance to actually talk to him." Theresia broke away from Subaru's gaze in shame.

"Of course!" Subaru responded back almost instantly. It wasn't in his nature to watch a wonderful lady look sad. There was so much to say about Reinhard and he didn't even know where to begin but, the best answer Subaru has always given when it came to the many people that entered his life was to just speak from the heart.

"Reinhard is an amazing guy, a really amazing guy, and I can see he borrowed a lot of elements from you, Theresia-San," Subaru finally spoke with a soft smile on his face, remembering all the things his red-haired friend had done for him.

"What?" Theresia whispered, her gaze turning back to Subaru in complete confusion. "I-I don't understand. What do you mean by 'he borrowed a lot of elements from you, I barely interacted with him as a kid."

Without a single word spoken. Subaru did something completely random. Giving no warning, he removed himself from the side of her bed, and walked out the door he entered from. Theresia would've gotten up if she could and scream after him, but she remained silent. Just letting the boy go without even putting up much of a fight, he was probably ashamed of her.

She didn't see the look on his face before he left, but more likely it was a face of complete disappointment at the words she spoke. After all, what kind of grandmother would know nothing about her grandson besides he gained a title she once inherited and even that was knowledge, she gained due to the witch's cult's influence? Sir Natsuki was pro-

"Ok,I got the list." A familiar voice landed itself in Theresia's eyes as she was deep in her self-loathing, almost instantly her eyes turned to the source of the voice. It was no one other than Sir Natsuki standing right in front of her door, but this time there was something in his hand. It as a scroll and he was squinting at it, Theresia was almost immediately confused at the sight for it was the first time anyone had randomly left a room, got a scroll and came back in less than 20 seconds.

"Ok, first off he's very kind like you are." Subaru began his attention completely on the piece of paper but still made his way over to Theresia's side of the bed.

"Sir Natsuki where did you get-"

"Second he's pretty good with a sword, like insanely good, almost inhumanely good actually.." Subaru paused for a second and let out a low but very audible hum while tapping his feet slightly on the ground his gaze did not divert from the piece of paper but into his mind of all the times he's witness Reinhard used his weapon."Well he usually one shots his enemies with any weapon, but from what I've seen and every other swordsman no matter how good still loses to Reinhard I think it's a safe guess."

"Well he does have the divine blessing of sword-saint but even without- '' Theresia tried to speak once more, but was once again rudely cut off by the raven-haired boy too entranced by this list she still couldn't believe he had lying around. She had so many questions, how did he have this list? Was he some kind of person that had the ability to predict the future that had to be the only explanation.

"Next off just like you he is very very stubborn, especially when it comes to knightly duties." This time what followed were those words his gaze finally left the paper and aimed itself straight at Theresia, causing her to feel red hot in embarrassment knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Well i have a reputation of being really stubborn."' Theresia began, and as much as she wanted to maintain eye contact with Subaru since seemingly all at once the memories of her turning him away and preventing him from taking care of her because he had knightly duties or not wanting to be a bother flooded her mind all at once. "I know,I can be troublesome and hard headed at times so i apologize for all the time I-"

"Another thing!" Subaru once again for the third time rudely cut her off raising his voice slightly, and making dead eye contact. "He also likes apologizing for stuff that isn't his fault or traits that are completely normal. He's always saying ``I'm sorry Subaru this, I apologize that I wasn't fast enough, I'm sorry for accidentally breaking your myo jar. '' Geez he's got to remember even though he's the sword-saint, he's still human and doesn't need to be perfect?"

"Right," Theresia, not wanting to be suddenly cut off anymore, simply gave one answer and prepared for Subaru to keep on going with his list but one thing he said still remained on the back of her head.

'He's got to remember even though he's the sword-saint, he's still human and doesn't need to be perfect.'

Those words, that simple sentence, had so much of an effect on Theresia than she could ever have expected. She knew what it meant to hold the title of sword-saint,being less than a person but more of a weapon that the kingdom can use at a moment's notice.

An army of thieves causing trouble around the city? Send the sword-saint, the witch cult is causing problems again? Call the sword-saint and Od help him if he's late to the situation due to dealing with a thousand other things the city had put on his back. Being the sword-saint you not only have to be the kingdom's weapon but you also have to be perfect in every single aspect, that was drilled to her when she was younger. It got to the point where any little mistake she made, no matter how small she would get down on her knees and apologize.

The same thing must be happening with Reinhard now that he has taken up the mantle of sword-saint, he needed to be perfect and anything less than perfect would not be tolerated. She understood the feeling of overwhelming expectations better than anyone, so what's why when she gets out of this bed. That's why when she reunites with her family and they can have a long talk about the many years that had flown by, she would look the sword-saint dead in the eyes and say.

'You don't need to be the perfect sword-saint Reinhard. You try your best, and that is enough, it's always been enough.' She squeezed the Reinhard doll tightly.

"Are you ok Theresia?" Subaru's voice ringed out to her

"Yes, I'm fine." She responded with a smile. "I was just... thinking."

"Thinking about what, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well-" She held her breath for a moment, wondering if she truly should tell the truth of her true feelings at heart. There were two sides plaguing her mind, one begging to tell the truth and that this was a friend of Reinhard so it's ok. On the other hand this was family matter and she had been taking up too much of his time already, and seeing how he was willing to get an entire list about how she and Reinhard were so much alike.

"I'm just thinking about how you said Reinhard is trying to be perfect." She finally answered truthfully, and just like that there was a weight lifted off her shoulders. "It just isn't fair that he's being burdened with that standard just because he's the sword-saint."

"I know right!" Subaru raised his voice slightly in agreement, placing down the scroll which if looked at closely can be seen completely blank, but that was the least of Theresia's worries as she was completely focused on Subaru. "He won't admit it, but I've seen how much stress Rein is under. He's barely here, and one time guess what during his off day he still had this knightly uniform on. Like who does that!"

'They give days off now? well that's good'

Theresia at Subaru's response simply let out a small little chuckle and positioned the Reinhard doll closer to her. "That does sound like Reinhard, even as a care free kid he always had some type of responsibility, also sounds like something I would do,"

"Ha, I know you and Reinhard have a lot in common." Subaru cheered, proud of himself and not just listing random stuff from his head that he hoped would fit.

"We seem to, but I'm sure he's taken a lot more after his father, especially with how responsible he seems. Really I can see a lot of Heinkel in Reinhard."

Once Theresia was done speaking she expected Subaru as he always did to have a cheerful smile on his face and give an over dramatic response, but no something was different. The smile that rivaled the sun itself completely faded from his face. The second the words Heinkel entered his ears his entire personality changed.

Gone was that cheerful boy who greeted the entire world with a smile but instead his hands by the very corner of Theresia's line of sight seemed to be shaking.

"Reinhard is nothing like Heinkel." Subaru finally declared in disgust; it was as if the word Heinkel itself left nothing but a bad taste in his mouth. "Reinhard is a better man than Heinkel would ever."

Hearing Subaru's voice and personality change at the sheer mention of her son's name Theresia couldn't help but be taken aback by this. She saw only moments before how cheerful he was talking about Reinhard and Wilhelm, but to hear a man speak about her own son in such a manner she couldn't help but wonder why. Heinkel was the sweetest, most mature kid growing up, he shared her kind nature but also shared his father's ambitions.

She saw with her very own eyes how sweet he was when raising Reinhard, how great of a father he was, even teaching his son the ways of the sword at a young age due to the simple fact he wanted his son to be strong enough to defend himself. Heinkel was the kind of man to put his life on the line, and jump straight into the fire, hell she wouldn't be surprised during the witch cult's assault on Priestella he was the first one fighting back against the cult when and Priestella saved countless lives.

So why? Why did Subaru have such a look of disgust on his face, why did behind those scary eyes of his it held nothing but hatred for Heinkel? Did Heinkel do something to wrong him in the past? Did they become enemies, but if that was the case how could Subaru be so close to both Reinhard and Wilhelm? She needed answers, she needed them now.

"W-well, it's natural for the son to be better than their father?" Theresia tried to continue the conversation with a smile pushing away any urge to ask the raven-haired knight what grudge he had against him, her strong suit really was never just asking straight up. She usually leaves that up to Wilhelm.

"Well not always the case…" Subaru's disgusted expression dulled for a moment before returning with full fury. "I have to agree with you but Reinhard is 100 times better than Heinkel could ever be, he's a fine and brave man while Heinkel is the complete opposite"

"M-m-may I ask how so?" Her voice was breaking, but Subaru didn't seem to notice, almost like he was stuck in his own little world..

"Oh where should I even start!" Subaru nearly screamed. "He's an asshole, from what i heard he's a coward always hiding behind his sons back, and even when using him he has the gal tooooooo–"

Subaru could've gone on and on about Heinkel singing with all his heart how much of a terrible person he was, and from the looks of it he could've but stopped right in his tracks on his eyes met Theresia's. He could see the pain, and complete confusion in her eyes as he listed not an opinion but straight facts about the man Heinkel really is but then again, he was talking about her son.

Any parent would feel some kind of sadness hearing someone go onto a full blown rant about their son.

"BUT!" He raised one finger up in the air for dramatic effect, his smile returning as well. "I heard when he was younger he was a good guy. I just happened to not like the man he is today."

"C-could you tell me more about the man he is today?" The red-haired woman asked this time in a whisper, a timid low whisper that told Subaru the damage had already been done. The previous swords-saint expression had already turned gloomy and looked like it was beyond repair.

"Well-" Subatru hesitated trying to pick out the right words quickly in order to not ruin the sword saint's mood any further than he already had, his job was to take care of her and keep her smiling the entire time. He wanted to lie, and say ohe he and Heinkel had some problems in the past

"Let's say he had it really rough ever since you've died from what I've heard, so with you returning he could be that responsible young man I've heard about."

"Oh…I see." Theresia muttered her gaze lowering a little bit from Subaru's and that just made the raven-haired knight's heart ache with pain. Once again Natsuki Subaru just as he had done many times in the past, let his emotions and own grudge slip out and it was affecting the people around him.

"HEY!" Subaru exclaimed standing up and grabbing the three dolls that had been separated all throughout Theresia's bed and brought them closer together on Theresia's lap. "To be blatantly honest Heinkel and Reinhard have their problems, but I'm sure you can slap some sense into them."

"Heinkel and Reinhard were so close to one another back when I was alive." Theresia began to think out loud while her mind took her back to the past the last time she saw her son. She remembered the look of pride he had on his face when Reinhard was born, she remembered the joy on his face when she saw Reinhard sparring with Wilhelm at a young age. Going on endlessly on how his son was the greatest and going to grow up to be such a fine young

"It's almost impossible to believe they would ever hold such bad blood for one another, and because of my death."

She still couldn't believe what she heard, she didn't know what happened to her family after she kicked the bucket yet she always thought. No matter what happened, the Astreafamily would stand strong side by side and take on anything, no matter what they would always be together. Sure they would have problems but nothing this bad to the point where they hate each other, and a close friend to the Astrea family would consider Heinkel to be nothing like Reinhard.

Maybe it was a bit foolish to believe that her family would still be happy and go lucky long after her death. As now a free woman and no longer under the witch cult's control like a puppet, the only bad thing about this fact was that she lost most of her memory besides the irony only remembering those she killed on Priestella, but now as she was thinking about her family she began to remember more.

She remembered about to slay Heinkel when all of a sudden Reinhard came and saved him just in the nick of time, but her memory was slightly distorted. She thought Heinkel came to join Wilhelm in the fight against her, and that he was the first one on the front lines but now her memory began getting clearer. Before Reinhard came he looked terrified, before Reinhard came to rescue him he immediately gave up.

The Heinkel she remembered as a young man would've fought to the very end and even when bruised, bloodied, and on the verge of death would not plead for his life. What was worse was when she remembered the look Heinkel had in his eyes after Reinhard came just in time to save him. He didn't have the grateful eyes of a father seeing his son coming to aid him in his time of need, no even when facing death's door he looked at Reinhard as if he was some annoyance.

The look of annoyance as if he had actually mad that he took so long in saving his life, instead of actually feeling proud.

'What happened to you…my son?' Was all Theresia could truly ask herself.

"Hey Theresia." Subaru broke the red-haired saint out of her thoughts by his words and gently putting his hand on her shoulder. "I won't lie to you, I'm just an outsider looking in, but the Astrea family has had a lot of problems lately and that's because they deathly miss you."

"I knew they would be hurting after my death, but it was so many years ago I-"

"Theresia-san" Subaru cut her off again squeezing her shoulder just a little bit harder. "Just like you miss them, they miss you, and no matter how much time flashes by, some pain just doesn't go away no matter how much you try."

For a moment the two once again locked eyes and Theresia could tell every word that came out of Subaru's mouth just now was true. It was true due to the fact that from the look in his eyes, the look in his eyes on the window that opened to his very soul seemed to indicate the fact. He lived through hell, and there were scars all over his soul that couldn't be seen by anyone other than her. Was it that the boy also had something when it came to his faily, or did he suffer so much worse? Theresia didn't know.

"I'll tell you what, imma get my plan into action much sooner than expected."

"Wait plan?" Theresia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes ma'am!" Subaru still with his right still on Theresia's shoulder motion his left to give a small salute. "I call it, The Astrea family reunion fix up that ends with a happy ending mission 01."

Theresia couldn't stop herself from chuckling slightly at the boy's long mission name, and the boy smiled as he was able to lighten up the mood once more. "You know Sir Natsuki, knights keep mission names short and simple."

"Well, this knight doesn't!" He responded quickly and proudly. "I was going to wait until you get all better and then started to plan it out, but might as well put it into action now. I'm going to invite all the Astrea's three weeks from now to the manor and we're going to surprise them with your amazing presence."

Theresia didn't immediately answer Subaru's plan and actually gave it some thought, the plan as she first thought was simple too simple, well simple at least when it came to talking about it. The term "easier said than done" couldn't be truer than now, she didn't know the full extent of what happened to her family while she was gone. For all she knew and what she heard from Subaru it may be beyond repair, but damn it if she was given this second chance by Od to see another tomorrow.

A second chance to live the life she always dreamed of, the life without the constant need to slay demi-humans. A life where she didn't have to be a weapon for the country, and more importantly a life where she could be a mother to Heinkel again, and an even better grandmother to Reinhard so that he too would not share the pain of being the sword-saint as she was once. All the while Wilhelm is by her side and she can make up for all those long, long years that she would help.

All she could do was pray to Od it would be simple, clean and easy as it sounds.

"Alright, how can I help set this?" She finally spoke back up her sky blue eyes shining against the sunlight and glowed with pure determination.

"Nothing!" Subaru stated proudly and cheerfully, causing the red-haired woman to blink constantly in complete disbelief which in turn caused Subaru's face to turn red-

"O-ok! Really messed up there again." He spoke quickly, nearly panicking while making an X with his hands like his life depended on it. "I mean, you can't do anything until you are fully healed up, I really don't think you should do anything, even write a letter until you are fully healed." He smiled a little hoping what he said removed the sheer embarrassing act that happened moments prior. "After all you need to feel your best, besides aren't you the one who said I don't want me to take care of you and focus on my knightly duties."

Theresia held back any word that would've escaped her throat and just started with a cute pout at the now smug-looking raven-haired knight. He had her all right, anything she said now would be completely how and plus something told her. Something deep inside her gut and some memories from the past of endless teasing due to her nature told her he would certainly enjoy her trying to fight back and argue while she had a pout on her face.

"All right, but make sure to keep me caught up ok!" Theresia still had a pout on her face turned away from the raven-haired knight not wanting to see any more of that smug grin. "I want to know the exact date, time, and who arrives, and even if I'm about to die, got it?"

Subaru chuckled a little at the comment and patted Theresia and for some odd reason. It was comforting, his smooth hand gliding across her red-hair felt almost divine. "All right Theresia-tan, I'll make sure to keep you in the loop."

"Tan? Where did that come from!" Theresia exclaimed with shock not because she found it offensive, quite the opposite with her face being turned away from Subaru's. She was a little red with embarrassment. It's been ages since someone gave her a name like that, she didn't even remember the last time anyone had.

"It's a pet name, one I give to all my good friends." Subaru spoke with a cheerful smile still rubbing Theresia's head. "It's an honor to be friends with the one who stole the sword-devil's heart."

"Oh well if that's the can I give you a pet name as well?"' The previous sword-saint muttered quietly under breath but just loud enough for Subaru to hear.

"Sure, go right ahead. We're friends now and that's what we do even Emilia-tan has a nickname for me."

"Su…how about Su?"

"Su?" Subaru's eyes began to shine. "That's perfect actually, people mostly call me baru or my last name so Su is a perfect nickname. I love it and I will hold it close to my chest for the rest of my life!"

Hearing his cheerful over reaction to something so simple Theresia like many times before couldn't help but let a small smile on her face. He was a good kid, she could see exactly how Reinhard and Wilhelm befriended such a man like him. His kind nature mixed with the untold horrors behind his eyes was perfect, deep inside her heart, she was actually grateful that he was the one that found her and not Reinhard or Wilhelm realizing she was still alive just yet.

She was pretty glad she had the chance to make such a good friend as well, it's been too long since she made an actual real friend and too see one so soon. Taking her in and letting her recover, fate had a strange way of both being a pain and helpful as well.

"W-well better get my master plan into action than." Subaru's footsteps could be heard getting further and further away from the side of her bed until she heard the small creak emitted from the opening of her front door. "Take care of yourself ok?""

"I will Su."

The raven-haired knight and the red-haired pervious sword-saint both share on final smile, before Subaru opened the door once more and left the the sword-saint with a whole mess of jumbled thoughts to get through but at the same time, she was hopeful knowing what was going to happen in the future. While also having a great friend who would surely visit her from time to time all the while he planned for the best night of her life.

After her latest conversation with Subaru time for the bed-ridden red-haired woman went by in nearly a complete blur. She didn't know why but time seemed to speed up, day and night went by uninterrupted as she merely laid by her window, watching the sunrise set, see the moon over the night sky, and proceed to and, lose her eyes and the process repeated for three weeks.

Though she didn't really mind this was another one of Od's gifts to her besides giving her the chance to live, the truth of the matter was she couldn't wait for these three weeks in bed to be over with. She couldn't wait to reunite with Wilhelm, Reinhard, and Heinkel and catch up on everything she's missed while also talking to them about the man who had saved her life and taken good care of her Natsuki Subaru.

While she stayed bed-ridden and waited for the fateful day to arrive, Subaru was working hard in the background. Having meetings with the Felt, Emilia, Crusch and somehow even the ever so prideful Priscilla camp without the presence of each member of the Astrea family who resided in it. He gave them a run-down of the situation, his plan to bring each member of the Astrea family to his residence in the guise of 'an important political meeting' but each camp has sent one representative in their stead.

He expected a lot of questions, confusion, and some defiance, especially from the Priscilla camp but everything went by smoothly all he needed to do was play the part. He sent out invites to each camp and now all he had to do now was prepare the event. With the best money can buy Roswaal L Mathers happily gave Subaru the resources he needed to make this party-perfect. Almost overnight the entire manor transformed the entire area being illuminated by magical crystals while red, and sky blue ribbons all over the place with a single table of six in the dining area.

Just like they agreed upon Subaru would come by her room every now and tell her everything that's happening so far with his plan. He went step by step on how his day went and how he planned everything out, even providing the smallest of details such as changing one of the paintings from the left corner to the right corner of the room. Once he gave her the run-down he had every right to leave, but he would always stay by her side for hours on end.

telling her countless stories of his experiences with Wilhelm, Reinhard, and sometimes Heinkel though by the look in his eyes he was almost always reluctant to talk about him. Even when Theresia is lucky sometimes he would talk about himself and his achievements such as aiding in the defense of Pristella and the story of how he helped slay the white whale.

Theresia always took great joy in hearing his little stories and even from time to time shared one of her own during the demi-human war, but if there was one thing that pissed her off to no end, was the way he puts it. Every time he would tell her something cool such as jumping off the nose of the white whale to lure it into a deadly trap only for him to say it was nothing and that he couldn't have done it without so and so and he did the least amount of work.

Sometimes she wished she had the energy to step on the foolish boy for talking to himself like that and scream at him, but she could mostly remain silent. Was he always like this? He had to ask Wilhelm, and Reinhard, and if they say yes, oh she had plans to completely slap them both for daring to not get rid of such a disgusting thought from there and now her friend.

For now, she would have to wait for that moment because there was still some time until she could see her family again. She was grateful time was passing by quickly, the pain of waiting still festered in her heart. She wanted to see her family again as soon as possible, she wanted to talk with them and enjoy their company all the while Subaru is there in the background cheering her on but just like anything in life. She needed to wait, let Od do its magic, and let the remainder of the three weeks pass by her as the morning breeze.

Three entire weeks went by in a snap and as the sun shined upon the third week into Theresia's room, the red-haired swordswoman didn't feel weak anymore as she once did. She didn't have the pain in her stomach as she once did, moving from side to side on her bed was nonexistent. In fact, she felt as energized and powerful as she once did, she felt like she could run around the entire world hundreds of times over. Even jumping up and leaping into the sky as she would constantly do during the time of the demi-human war.

Though most important she felt like she could get out of this comfortable but blasted bed, It was a foolish last time she felt up to the challenge of getting out of bed she was denied and paid the price of her foolishness with sheer pain. One part of her wanted to get off the bed and truly put to the test whether or not she was fully healed, while another part wanted to wait for the great spirit's approval. She really didn't want to ruin three weeks of progress due to her own actions, but something in her, the energy she felt all throughout her body was just telling her to give it a chance.

As foolish as it was, as risky as it was,as much as she didn't want to be an inconvenience to the man who did so much for her, it was just a risk she had to take. If there was one thing she learned as a sword-saint it was to trust your instincts because those instincts are Od guiding you.

So carefully she removed the white blanket she had used for weeks on end to give her warmth during the coldest nights, without any ounce of pain echoing through her body as she once did before she was able to fully turn her body towards the edge of the bed to the point where her legs were hanging out. Now it was all time for the moment of truth, taking a deep breath Theresia stared at the carpet floor for a second before jumping off the bed and landing on her two feet.

Part of her was expecting immediate punishment for her actions but to her surprise there was none. Her body didn't fall onto the floor the second she made contact with the ground, she stood still for a few seconds longer waiting if there was some kind of delay there was nothing. She took one step in front of her,two steps, three steps and then started to walk around the room for a little while longer. Still no pain came though her legs did feel a little num to to staying in bed for weeks on end but that didn't matter.

She could walk again, she could stand again, she could run again! She was fully healed. The pain on her stomach didn't exist as well that meant one thing now. She was in great shape to help put Subaru's master plan into action meaning she could see her family again, she could reunite with them. She had to show Subaru, she had to show that now she could help with his plan as well and of course properly thank him with a hug and handshake for taking care of her.

So like she was a kid again she ran out the door at the top speed ready to find sir Natsuki and also take a tour around the manor she's been stuck in for so long when all of a sudden-

"Ahhh!" A familiar voice screamed out and what followed afterwards was a sound all too familiar to her during her constant battles, the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Almost instantly with worry in her eyes Theresia turned to the source of the voice and it was none other than Natsuki Subaru, her caretaker flat on his back with his hair getting a little bit of dust on it.

"Oh my Od!" Theresia nearly screamed out as she rushed over to the fallen knight's side. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I-it's fine, it's fine" Subaru groaned out and with the help of Theresia, he managed to get himself off the ground, and for the first time. Without laying on a bed, without being forced to turn her head to the side, Theresia stood in front of a smiling Subaru who had stars in his eyes.

"I can see why you're so energetic today Theresia-tan, you're actually walking!" Subaru quickly the dust of his hands quickly rushed toward the red-haired saint and clamped his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad but are you feeling any pain, I ain't a doctor but I learned that some people can ignore pain and do crazy stuff but break down when Adrenaline wears out."

Theresia, though a bit embarrassed at the sudden action, simply smiled and shook her head "No I don't feel any pain,and I really don't think it's any of whatever you said."

"That's great! I think I was going to send Beako to check up on you or place some kind of spell."

"Spell?" Theresia tilted her head to the side completely confused, completely ignoring everything else Subaru had said.

Subaru of course being Subaru always opening his mouth and being bluntly honest sighed and turned away in shame."W-well as a just in case you couldn't walk, I didn't want you to miss out on your chance to reunite with everyone Wilhelm so I was prepared to get her to use a spell so you can walk for a day or two. I'm…sorry."

Theresia stayed silent but then smiled and clapped her hands together with cheer. "How thoughtful of you Su, even if I was useless you still wanted to give me a chance to reunite with my family." Theresia's smile grew brighter and brighter until it rivaled the sun itself and Subaru was staring right as it prepared to go blind.

"I-it's nothing really!" Subaru turned away and hid his face from the sheer brightness of Theresia's cheer. "Like I said before, it's an honor to take care of Wilhelm's one and only wife, but now that you're up and walking we can move on to phase two of my master plan, and I need your help."

Theresia's bright smile brightened even more than ever before the sound of both how excited and how determined she truly was. When she and Subaru first made their deal she was glad that he held up his end of the bargain and would come to her every time his plan. A part of her hated that as the sword-saint she was always the first one called, the first one to help, and though she hated killing being the first one to battle.

She found some kind of pride in always being the first one called to help people, the first one people would love to rely on and because of that pride. Being forced to take a break or worse, off being bed-ridden for three weeks listening to people progressing while she sat being useless. This was her chance to not only repay Su for everything he's done for her up to this point, and also for herself to see the fruits of her own hard work at the end of the day.

"I'm all ears!" She proclaimed proudly.

"All right, phase 2 is all you so I only have one question." That was when Subaru stopped smiling and simply stared at Theresia with a narrowed gaze. The room was deathly silent for a second, just one single second. "What kind of dresses do you prefer?"

Oddly enough for how weird and out of nowhere the question was Theresia opened her mouth and without any hesitation gave a clear cut answer. "I actually prefer a mixture of green and white."

"Green and white" Subaru nodded with a low hum. "Beautiful colors, beautiful colors that really makes your red-hair pop out."

The red-haired saint merely chuckled lightly at the strange but sweet comment. "Well thank you Su, I used to wear a dress with that color every time I visited the flowers by the old ruins if only I had it now." Seemingly by her own words Theresia's mind began to wonder just like it had many times before when she was bed-ridden.

She thought back to those few but beautiful moments, the times Wilhelm would come to where she sat swinging his sword against the breeze as yellow flowers surrounded them. All the while she could sit comfortably upon some of the forgotten strong structures of the building and watch. The sight that made its way into her mind at the current moment was one she had to see many times before and one she would never get tired of seeing.

If she could after all this she would love to create it again, of course, she never did know what happened to those old ruins with all the flowers. Time has a habit of changing very quickly and for all, she knew those flowers could be dead right at the moment, and even if they weren't. Even if she re: created the scene it would truly never be the same with Wilhelm's old state but that didn't matter.

She could re:create a brand new scene and instead of it just being her and Wilhelm it can be with Heinkel, Reinhard, and oddly enough Subaru. Though she met him for a short time the way he talked to her, befriended all her relatives save her Heinkel she might as well consider him a member of the family. No what is she even thinking even if she offered Su probably-

"Well don't fret my dear friend, we're going to get a dress even better than the one we had originally planned." Subaru without any warning grabbed the red-haired saint by her hand breaking her out of her lovely memory she was reliving and began dragging her across the manor.

From an outsider looking in it looked like an evil man kidnapping a sweet injured innocent young woman, when in reality if Theresia truly wanted too even without her blessing as sword-saint. She could simply plant her feet firmly on the ground and watch as Su fall to the ground while he helplessly attempted to pull her but she would be a terrible friend if she did.

"W-where are we going Su?" Theresia tried her best to sound calm but then again it was impossible when someone was dragging you to another location.

Subaru meanwhile simply turned his head at the red-haired woman but didn't slow down for even a second. I'm taking you to the best dress up and make-up artist I know, sorry I didn't mention this to you but we're on a tight schedule and visitors are going to be coming soon."

"V-v-visitors?!" Theresia yelped out in complete shock, she was no stranger to being forced to dress in her finest outfits when visitors are coming to her home but when Subaru said it there was more to this words. "Y-you don't mean?"

"Sorry I can be a total dunderhead as Emilia-tan would say." Subaru chuckled to himself lightly before maintaining his composure. "I said before step two is already full steam ahead, that means Wilhelm, Reinhard, and Heinkel are coming to visit just before the sun goes down."

"Su! You promised me you would tell me everything, but you never told me they were coming today." Theresia pouted.

"I am a man who keeps promises." Subaru paused for a second to let out several dramatic sometimes, but you never said I have to tell you all the details right away."

"Arugh you traitor." Theresia groans, resisting the urge to slap herself for remembering the most important rule she learned from a merchant friend a while back: 'always specify the details of a deal to even the smallest degree.'

"HEY!" Subaru yelled out, stopping his tracks in front of a half open door, turning back and looking at Theresia as if he was actually hurt by such a comment. "I ain't a traitor I just happened to leave out some details, and anyway." The raven-haired boy turned his attention to the half-open door and without any hesitation opened it. "We're here."

For a second just a brief second Theresia was completely blinded by a bright light that illuminated from several crystals all around her, but when her eyes finally got used to the light her jaw dropped. Inside the room were two maids bowing in front of her, one short with reddish-brown hair, and the other tall with long golden hair. The space the maid resided in was filled to the brim with hundreds upon hundreds of finely made clothing nearly organized by the color, size, and what kind of fabric they were made out of.

All the while there was a chair in front of a mirror table that housed what Theresia could only assume the best make up in the entirety of Luginica. She had seen plenty of fancy things during her time in the Astrea manor, but this one room beats it by a long shot.

"Good evening honorable guest, and master Subaru" The two maids said in perfect unison.

"Frederica,Petra like I said don't call me master it sounds weird," Subaru seemingly smiled and waved his hand all the while his face went a bit red with embarrassment."Anyways Theresia is meeting Frederica the tall one, and Petra the fun-size one. Frederica, Petra, meet Theresia-san."

"Oh, it's very nice to meet you two!" Theresia spoke up loudly and cheerfully, taking a step forward and extending both her hands towards the two maids. With the short one not wasting any time and shook it pretty violently and would've continued for a few seconds if not from the corner of her eye, clearly, the young girl was inexperienced and still learning the foundations of the ways of the maid. While the tall one was obviously more disciplined the way from her posture, the tone of her voice, and surprisingly the way she shook Theresia's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you, Theresia-sama." The short maid perked up staring dead in Theresia's eye with a little bit of shine in them getting closer and closer until she was basically right in front of the red-haired saint. "Subaru-sama was telling me all about you! I was a little sad when he said I couldn't visit for a while, but he told me I have a very important job when it comes to regards."

"Petra don't stand too close in front of the esteemed guest." Frederica spoke gently, grabbing the young maid by the shoulder and pulled her back by her side. "We don't want to make her uncomfortable now."

"Oh no, no, no." Theresia shook her head back and forth over and over again still keeping her same golden smile. Not only that but she stepped forward getting closer until she was barely an inch away from the two maids themselves. "I really don't mind, plus getting up close to someone is a great way to start a good friendship right."

Theresia could see the shine in Petra's eyes as the small maid simply nodded her head over and over again. "Right! That's how Subaru-sama made friends with me and everyone else, he would always get close and into other people's business and starts causing a whole bunch of problems but if he didn't-"

"Petra!" Subaru and Frederica said in complete unison, Frederica giving Petra a stern look of disappointment that made the small made yelp internally while Subaru on the other hand was even more red with embarrassment. While the poor spectator Theresia was a little disappointed at the young maid for being cut off short.

In full honesty she kinda enjoyed how passionate the young maid was talking about Subaru, it showed just how great of a person he was and even though they were maids of the manor. They were more than just maids, they were friends, close friends by the looks of it and also it wouldn't hurt seeing Subaru being embarrassed all of a sudden. She didn't know why but internally seeing Subaru being embarrassed and his over the top reactions were kinda enjoyable to see.

Maybe someday in the near future she would tease him just a little bit, it would be good to get those countless years of being teased out on someone else for a change. Especially someone who seems like such a good friend.

"It's good to see you out of bed Theresia-sama, we are glad to see you in great health." The more mature maid continued the conversation.

"Thank you, couldn't have gotten up if it wasn't for Su here giving me some company." The red-haired saint gestured over her head to Subaru who merely dismissed the praise with a short wave of his hand.

"Please, I barely did anyone besides talk my head off. Besides, I was busy anyway."

"Says the knight who spends every second talking about how he wanted to go check how Theresia-sama was doing." Petra had a small puff on her face as she looked at the now even more embarrassed Subaru with sheer disappointment. "You even tried to chicken out on our promise."

"Oh did he now." Theresia had a smug grin on her face. "Well, shouldn't be too surprising since he was begging to take care of me when I was bed ridden."

"Arugh! Ok stop teasing me, it's more embarrassing than it already was." Subaru covered his face in shame. "Listen, can we quit with the teasing for today? I know it's not much but you will have lots of opportunities in the future, but we're on the clock."

"Subaru-sama is right." Frederica was the first one to speak up, giving another quick stern glance at Petra before straightening or already neigh perfect posture. "The other guest will be here in less than 3 hours, the rooms and decorations are in top condition but we are nowhere near ready yet."

Almost instantly as the words exited the tall maid's mouth and entered Theresia's expert hearing she froze in place. She knew definitely who these guests were but she didn't expect them to be coming so soon, once again her friend had left out an important detail. All she wanted to do right now was walk up and slap Subaru for not telling her about something so important.

It was a miracle that she wasn't screaming and running past the two maids running past the two maids tearing up the place in search for the perfect dress, and wasting probably hundreds of holy coins word of make-up. Even so the next words that came out of Subaru's mouth calmed down all the nerves she was feeling at the moment.

"Yeah, and that's why it's your job to make sure Theresia-san looks absolutely amazing." The raven-haired boy dramatically pointed at two maids who simply smiled, nodded and gave a polite bow.

"It shall get done, Subaru-sama."

"You can count on us!"

The two maid's spoke at the same time and with that Petra walked up to the red-haired saint and quickly grabbed her arm and motioned her to the table filled to the brim with makeup, and adjusted her seat in front of the mirror, and then began to work. First straightening out Theresia's hair which much to the red-haired saint's surprise was incredibly messy, no mess was too light a word for what Theresia saw in front of her. Her hair didn't look like a mess but instead, it looked like it was ran over by a cart dragon hundreds of times over. She could see the bits and pieces of dirt in her red-hair all the while it looked like a crumpled-up mess.

'How did Su take me seriously when I looked like that.' She grimaced, her mind taking the pleasure of reminding her of all the sweet interactions she had with the raven-haired knight, this time replacing what she thought was her normal hair with the mess in front of her.

"How would you like your hair done?" Petra asked politely the moment she finished making Theresia's hair look straighter than it's ever been clean of all the dust and dirt. While her senior stayed in the back-ground, and thanks to the mirror in front of her, Theresia could clearly see what Frederica was up to. The blond maid was standing in front of the hundreds of dresses and next to her was Subaru.

She couldn't exactly hear them but she could see Subaru and Frederica whispering to one another all the while the blond-haired maid took random dresses and showed them to Subaru. The red-haired saint gave a little smile as she noticed each dress that weren't green, white, or had a perfect mixture of the two he shook his head. It seemed the two were having a little back and forth what dress to choose but they still had smiles on their faces.

"Theresia-sama?" The small maid recaptured the previous sword-saint's attention.

"Oh, sorry Petra." Theresia smiled, retracting her eyes away from the corner of the mirror where the maid and knight could barely be seen and focused back on the middle. "I would like my hair done in a twin tails style iff that's not too much to ask."

"Of course, it isn't too much to ask!" Petra beamed, her eyes shining even more so than they ever were. "I always wanted to try the pigtail style, I wanted to try it on myself but as you can see my hair is short, big sis Frederica and Emilia don't really like messing with their hair floor."

"Oh I see," Theresia replied back, her gaze focused on the mirror that fully revealed the excitement in Petra's eyes for wanting to do such a simple style of hair. "Well go ahead, even though this is your first time you've straightened my messy hair in a few minutes when it would've taken others like 10, so I know you do great."

"I promise I will." Petra declared and began getting right to work, though she was young and an experienced maid the motion of her hand told her otherwise. The way the little maid expertly twisted her hair in the shape of the pigtail, all the while she made sure that Theresia wasn't uncomfortable rivaled even the greatest of hairstylists. She surpasses them not only in technique but also speed usually for Theresia herself getting her hair in, her signature twin-tailed style took at least 5 minutes.

Yet Petra was done in under a minute counting the fact that she spent 30 seconds in order to make sure the pigtails were perfect.

"All done!" Petra exclaimed slightly readjusting Theresia's chair in the process in order to make sure the red-haired saint could see every corner of her hair. "How does it look?"

Theresia didn't say anything but stared at herself in the mirror and the work Petra did on her hair. For too long ever since the witch cult attacked and ever since she was nothing but the god of death during the demi-human war, her hair was always in a ponytail. So seeing herself in the mirror not having that hairstyle, the hairstyle she always used in battle but something different, something she used to have was strange but comforting.

"It's perfect." Theresia whispered under her breath just loud enough for Petra to hear. "You did an amazing job Petra-chan."

"Ahh, I'm so happy you liked it. I was a bit scared that I messed something up when you didn't say anything but I'm-"

"Oh you've already finished Petra?" Subaru's voice caught off the maid's mid-talk but that didn't seem to bother Petra as her mood suddenly brightened even more than it already was.

"Look what I did Subaru." The maid turned towards the knight and Frederica standing next to him who was seen holding an elegant dress that had the perfect balance of white and green.

Following Petra's hand, Subaru noticed the hairstyle of the red-haired saint but quickly turned back to Petra and gave a warm smile. He rewarded the small maid's effort with something that could only be deemed as a gift that Od would send down to those most deserving, something that even the sword-saint would love to have but never be able to gain. Subaru gave Petra one of his world's famous head pats before turning and looking back at Theresia.

"That hairstyle really suits you Theresia-tan." He said with no hesitation in his voice.

"O-oh, thank you Subaru." Theresia sheepishly replied a little embarrassed since truly this was the first time in a long time she had been complimented on her looks. "I just hope Wilhelm will like it."

"Nonsense!" Subaru countered back quickly, grabbing the dress in the blond-haired maid's hand and gently handing it over to Theresia. "He's going to love it, with that hairstyle and this dress he's going to fall in love a hundred times over again."

At the raven-haired knight's overdramatic response Theresia once again found herself smiling from ear to ear. Subaru being there and giving her support was comforting but still, it did not hide this strange feeling in her heart. The feeling that something was going to go wrong, the feeling that all this, the normal talks, the hope she has, fantasizing about what she would talk about when she sees her family again. It would be all for nothing and she was doing nothing but setting herself for failure.

Her mind couldn't help but go back to when Subaru talked about Heinkel, the hatred he had in his eyes that kind of hatred wasn't one of petty rivalry no there was more to it. How could Subaru be great friends with Reinhard but hate Heinkel and why did he say that the two of them were having problems? Maybe this party and reunion shouldn't happen. Something was screaming at her to tell Subaru to cancel everything, but this wasn't her heart talking. Her heart was fully set on reuniting with them, maybe it was Od Luginica giving her a warning but that didn't make sense Od Luginica helped her live so she could regain her life back.

"Yeah, you're right Subaru." Theresia answered back shaking every last ounce of negativity from her mind, she couldn't think like that. No negative thinking would only lead to negative results so that's why. "This family reunion is going to be the one that the history books would talk about for ages, something we and my family could always reminisce on when we miss one another"

The remaining amount of time that it would take before the entire Astrea family arrived went by quickly, before Theresia herself even knew it she was already standing in front of a golden door. Her hair was perfectly clean and still in twin pigtail style, she was wearing her green and white dress that fit smoothly like a glove and more importantly, Subaru was by her side.

She could see from how his hand was shaking he was both nervous and excited, barely able to control his emotions. Theresia was the same way if it wasn't for the countless hours of being trained to be the perfect person, trained to be the sword-saint she would be sweating bullets with her heart beating so loudly it could be heard for miles and miles.

"This is it huh?" Subaru finally spoke, exhaling a breath he's been keeping inside for so long.

"Yeah." Theresia simply nodded in agreement not even bothering to take her eyes off the door, her keen hearing captured some of the things happening on the other side. She could hear footsteps, the rustling of tableware, and more important voices. He could hear the familiar voices greeting unfamiliar ones, he could hear the voice of the man who declared his love in her what would be final moments. He could hear the voice of a young man she had the chance to clash swords with, and more importantly she heard the voice of the man she raised and relit her will to live.

"Nervous?" Subaru turned his head and stared blankly at the sword-saints face.

"Deathly." She responded back without any hesitation.

"Your face tells me otherwise."

"Years and years of practice Su."

"Yeah I get it. Well, I'm going to head out now." Subaru took another deep breath. "You stay behind the door hidden, remember the plan?"

"Listen closely and wait until you say the code word, walk out, surprise, experience a ton of hugs and kisses and mark this in the memory book." Theresia answered back, there was no hesitation in her voice. She spoke as if she's been saying these exact words for years of her lifetime.

"Wow" Subaru fell completely silently just having a look of complete shock on his face. You actually remember my exact words line by line"

"What can I say, Su." She finally faced him. "I have a really great memory."

"I guess-" Before Subaru could finish talking he heard a faint knock on the door. It was so faint as if a mouse happened to walk past at the same time the door was being knocked upon the two would've missed it. It was another miracle given by Od Luginica that they could hear such a faint cue.

Hearing this Subaru took another deep breath while Theresia hid on the other side of the door, they looked deeply into one another's eyes and simply nodded. Subaru opened the door, the glowing light from the magical crystals pierced the room, and just like that the door was closed again.

With Subaru gone it was up to Theresia to sit and wait for her part, she gently placed her ear onto the smooth wooden structure of the door, closed her eyes, and waited for the conversation to begin.

"Gentlemen!" She could hear Subaru exclaim. "It is my absolute pleasure to host all three of you tonight. I know it's been a long long ride to get here, as well as interrupting your very busy-"

"Od above shut up and get this over with kid!" Theresia heard a familiar voice interrupt Subaru, it was the same voice that she heard when she was slowly losing her life. It was the same voice she heard long ago before the days of being nothing more than a puppet for the Witch-Cult but more gruff and arrogant as if the man had wasted his life to the bottle, and it was the voice of her son Heinkel.

Never in her life had she heard Heinkel say something so rude, something so disrespectful especially to someone who seemed to be a good friend to Reinhard and Wilhelm. Could this be the reason why Subaru was angry because her son was disrespectful? Truly all she could ask herself was what changed, truly what changed for Heinkel to be this rude.

"I don't understand why lady Priscilla wanted me to be here, but I have a much better thing to do than listen to you all day." Heinkel continued.

"Father, please be respectful." She heard the voice of her grandson and current sword-saint Reinhard Van Astrea and unlike his father who seemingly changed overnight for her, he still had that kindness in his voice when he was a child yet he was more grown and mature. The complete opposite of what his father is now, who from what she heard beyond the door and from Subaru was nothing but a shadow of his former self.

She could hear Reinhard preparing to continue speaking only to be interrupted by the sound of a glass bottle hitting a hard surface and breaking into millions of pieces. Even beyond the door she could feel what could only be described as true hatred coming from outside, it was so strong it made her shiver but the next words that came out of Heinkel's mouth completely broke her heart.

"For the 500th time, do not call me your father." She heard Heinkel growl "I am ashamed to have created a monster like you."

Theresia just stood behind the door in complete silence. She couldn't believe it, Heinkel talking to his son like that, calling him a monster saying that he's ashamed to be his father. This had to be some kind of joke right, just one terrible joke Heinkel decided to do in a spur of emotions. There was no way in a trillion years Heinkel would call his own son a monster no matter how broken their relationship might be.

Even so Wilhelm should have done something about it a long time ago if it ever reached this point. He would've gotten them together, sat them down, had a small talk and that should be the end of it. So why, Od why was Wilhelm sitting there doing nothing? Wilhelm was the type of man who would jump into danger head on for the people he loved. He was the type of man who would stand up for the other person's family or not and set things straight.

Those qualities of his were one of the many reasons she fell in love, so why in Od's name was he not saying anything especially when his own grandson is getting disrespected.

'Say something Wilhelm.' She pleaded internally, gripping the handle of the door, ready to burst it down open. Only reason she didn't want the fact she kept whispering to herself 'remember the plan, stick to the plan.'

"Heinkel can you please not talk to your son that way you drunk-turd." Subaru finally spoke up, from the tone of his voice he was obviously annoyed with Heinkel. "You're all family, Heinkel. Reinhard is your son whether you like it or not, and Wilhelm is your father and Reinhard's grandfather."

"Subaru-dono." Wilhelm's rough yet surprisingly gentle old voice hit Theresia's ears for what seems like the first time for an eternity. Hearing the man she loved speak again made her heart nearly flutter with excitement as butterflies began surfacing on her stomach. He was not as young as he would be nor will he ever recover his youth but somehow even without seeing him, it made her feel like she fell in love all over again.

This was it, this was what she was waiting for. It took a long while of silence for some reason but Wilhelm will do the right thing and stand up for his grandson. Agreeing with Subaru that no matter what they are family and should get along with one another. Wilhelm was always loving to her, Heinkel, and Reinhard even though Heinkel has changed Wilhelm never would.

The sweet kind caring man when he was younger and who only grew and mature with age, surely-

"I would prefer it, if you do not refer to me as the grandfather of sir Reinhard Van Astrea." Wilhelm's voice interrupted the red-haired saint's thoughts, his tone was cold, emotionless, and did not even hold one once of hesitation.

Theresia couldn't believe it, it was one thing for Heinkel to say such terrible things but Wilhelm? What was wrong with this world? What was wrong with her family? What happened for them to be so split open like this it didn't make any sense? She tried digging in her mind for an explanation as to why her thoughts were suddenly cut off when a laugh entered the room.

It was a laugh of pure sadistic entertainment, it was a laugh that echoed through every corner of the room, and it was a laugh that grinds her ears. The laugh went on, and on, and on non-stop for a good three minutes with no one even bothering to stop it. Not Wilhelm, Not Reinhard, and when Subaru did try to by respectfully asking the laugh grew louder.

That laugh, that evil laugh belonged to none other than Heinkel Astrea who after going on and on uninterrupted finally began to calm down his laughter but even so it did not go away. Instead of being a full-blown laugh, it was now a soft chuckle.

"See, even Wilhelm over here doesn't want to be associated with you, monster." Heinkel struggled to not continue to burst out laughing. "Who could be when you took the life of your own grandmother not once but twice."

"I-"

"Shut your trap, monster." Just like that ever once entertainment and joy from Heinkel's voice disappear the moment Reinhard uttered out a single word. "Wilhelm over here at his old age took up arms and avenged my mother after you've stolen her gift by slaying the white whale. '' he snarled but wasn't finished quite yet. "WIth your power you would have slain the white whale in a single strike, you could've stopped the witch's cult invasion."

That was that final straw that broke the desert ground dragon's back, she couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't take hearing the lies that escaped from Heinkel's mouth. She couldn't take the ridicule her grandson was taking for only doing his duties and being human, and with Wilhelm not doing anything. She had enough,no wonder Subaru was so disgusted with Heinkel when she first asked him about it for she was feeling an emotion that she never thought she would feel when it came to Heinkel and Wilhelm. It was anger, pure anger that had the power to bring destruction that would make the witch of envy herself be impressed.

Subaru had done many things for her and the least she could do was stick to his master plan, but what wasn't going to happen. She would apologize to Subaru for her actions later but she just can't stand this anymore, she gripped the handle of the door so hard cracks began to born and-

"Now let's get this-"

Before Heinkel could finish his disgusting sentence Theresia opened the door and light pierced into her dark room blinding her but her vision quickly recovered. What she found was she was on a stage with Subaru being next to her, and below her sitting on an elegant table with five chairs with Reinhard sitting alone, while Heinkel and Wilhelm sat by one another.

Everyone in the room was staring at her, just her. She could see the shock in everyone's eyes as she appeared in the golden light of the crystals. To Heinkel, Wilhelm, and Reinhard she looked like an angel that descended straight down from the heavens.

"Theresia-san, I-" Subaru tried to speak but this time, unlike the many times where Theresia could be glad to host a conversation with Subaru or apologize for interrupting his grand plan. Theresia ignored the hands and began walking towards the three boys sitting down on the table. The neutral feeling on her face and the emptiness in her eyes all hid the burning emotion of rage she was feeling in her heart.

"Grandmother/Mother/Theresia." The three boys said in unison each of them standing up from pure shock, Heinkel and Wilhelm couldn't help but blink several times as if any second now she would disappear.

For an entire minute the room was dead silent, no one moved, no one talked, only Wilhelm and Reinhard would occasionally glance at Subaru asking in their minds if what they were seeing wasn't an illusion while Subaru didn't seem to notice. He and Heinkel were just staring dead at Theresia, and not a minute longer finally some movement occurred in the room.

Heinkel began to walk up to the supposed dead red-haired woman. His entire body was shaking with each step he took. Wilhelm kept his distance, still not believing what he was truly seeing after he watched her die, he held her in his arms during her final moments.

Reinhard meanwhile with all his divine protections activated was told the truth by Od Luginica that the person in front of him was truly his grandmother. So he turned away merely looking at the ground and balled his hands not out of hatred but shame. He was the one who slew his mother, he was the one that felt no remorse when he cut her down, and he was the one that killed her twice.

"Mother…" Heinkel finally whispered after another long minute of silence he was right in front of her now, his eyes once again began blinking rapidly to see if the woman would disappear but no matter how many times they blinked she would always be there.

Slowly Heinkel's hands began moving on their own, completely unaware of the burning rage in his mother's eyes, his hand got closer and closer. He needed to touch her, he needed for himself to see if she was real, and he needed to make sure the person who raised him still lived. "Mother is that really-"

*SMACK*

Before Heinkel could even finish speaking and his hands were only a few centimeters away from his mother's cheeks, he barely saw what happened. All he heard was a loud sound that echoed throughout the room, and all he felt was unbearable pain in his cheeks.

The pain was so unbearable he stopped what he was doing and nothing else mattered more than putting his hand over his stinging cheek trying to smooth the burning pain that sent heat into his arms. The representative of the Priscilla camp was never the type to cry but he could feel water wailing up in his eyes as all he could do was groan at the pain.

Whatever hit him was so strong, it was even causing his ears to ring like there was no tomorrow. The only thing Heinkel Astrea could ask himself was who and why, who hit him, it couldn't be Reinhard he was too busy looking down on the ground. It couldn't be Wilhelm he was at Theresia with shock in his eyes, but why did he even seem more shocked.

That's when it truly hit him after taking a few seconds to recover he turned and looked back at his mother, he saw her hand had moved away from her side and was now in the air in a position he sadly was all to familiar with for he had done it to Reinhard many times before when he was a boy.

Theresia Van Astrea, the kindest woman to ever grace this earth had slapped Heinkel Astrea so hard her hand print was visible on his cheeks, and everyone in the room could've sworn she took some bits of flesh with her.

"Mo-" Heinkel tried to speak again but instantly fell silent when he looked into his mother's sky blue eyes, it wasn't emotionless as he once saw it when she tried to kill him, he wasn't loving as her final moments with Wilhelm, no it was nothing but a mix of anger and disappointment.

"Heinkel, how dare you?!" Theresia asked loudly. It took everything she had to scream and yell. "How dare you talk to your son like that?!"

"What are you talking about mother?" Heinkel weakly groaned out a response.

"I heard it all!" Theresia stepped forward which caused Heinkel to step back in fear of getting slapped again. "You called him a monster, a brat, that you're again to be called his father?! What happened to you, didn't you love your son?!"

"Mother you must remember, he is a monster he-"

"He is NOT a monster!" Theresia stopped Heinkel before he could dare finish his sentence and before the man knew it he was hit with another slap. This time on the other side of his unprotected cheeks so they can have matching hand prints, and this time the force of the slap was so strong it knocked Heinkell directly onto the ground.

"I don't know what he did, but there is NOTHING! Your son would have done nothing to be labeled as a monster, you're his father." Theresia declared over the fallen Heinkel, that she would've spoken more but then another person caught her eye. Someone who is equally responsible due to his inaction and harmful words.

"Wilhelm!" Her burning sky blue eyes turned its attention towards the man he loves, and for the first time in the sword demon's life, he took a step back. Never in the old man's life had he seen his wife look towards him with such anger, if there was one thing he knew at this moment the phrase 'hell has no fury like a woman's scorn' was true.

"How could you stand here and let Heinkel talk to Reinhard like that!" Theresia stepped in front of the old man leaving the fallen Heinkel to tend to the wound inflicted on both his pride and body. "You always keep Heinkel in check when he does something stupid, you were supposed to be the one doing this not me!"

"Theresia I-" Wilhelm tried speaking but Theresia wasn't done just yet.

"No." She merely said with a whisper. "I heard everything beyond that door the moment Subaru went to greet you all." She narrowed her eyes at Wilhelm who turned away in shame as he understood what's coming next. Without any sort of warning Theresia, this time using her back hand, smacked Wilhelm across the face who didn't react externally but internally he could feel nothing but shame. "You said you didn't want to be referred to as the grandfather to Reinhard, why he is such a sweet kid and he came to YOU during our final battle to save you and Heinkel."

Theresia wasn't done yet, oh she had so much to say so much to talk about. How what Subaru saw about Heinkel was true, about how much Wilhelm has changed for the worse. She would've continued, she even opened her mouth to continue talking but was suddenly stopped by a faint whisper.

"Grandmother…" The whisper said and though faint everyone could hear it and turned in its direction, the whisper came from the sword-saint Reinhard Van Astrea. Who finally after looking at the ground ever since Theresia walked up to them was staring directly in his mother's eyes, Theresia could see the shame in the boy's eyes that matched her own.

"Yes, Reinhard?" Theresia turned towards her grandson and the burning rage in her eyes turned to that of pure sympathy.

"Please do not be angry at fa- Heinkel-sama, and Wilhelm-sama." Theresia could see the pain on the sword saint's face as he struggled not to say the name of his father. Each word Reinhard spoke grew fainter and fainter but never the less he spoke. "They are correct, I am a monster."

Hearing her grandson say such words about himself broke the red-haired woman's heart into a million pieces. Internally she understood the feeling of being labeled as a monster after all that was what she was to all demi-humans during the war. The god of death, the monster of Luginica always waiting and reaping to take your life. All the old sword-woman could do was place her hand on Reinhard's shoulder.

"Rein, you aren't a monster!" Finally, after so long of standing in silence Subaru spoke out. "It's a terrible way to refer to yourself as that, if you were such a monster why are we such good friends huh?"

Theresia turned and smiled at Subaru, grateful for his words that surely removed a small load of pain from the sword-saint's heart before turning back to her son. "Subaru is right Reinhard, you aren't a monster you never will be."

Reinhard meekly shook his head. "I am a monster mother." He spoke a little louder this time. "I stole your blessing and that laid you getting killed by the white whale, I wasn't there to avenge you. My mere presence caused our family to break apart, and I am constantly not here when I am most needed, always busy with such other tasks."

Reinhard went on, and on, and on never in the Sword-Saint's life had he spoken those words about himself to anyone out loud, let alone the woman he killed. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, an eternity of just smiling, an eternity of just holding back the tears he's been kept hidden for so long. The sword-saint shed a tear. It was just a single tear but to Heinkel and Wilhelm it just showed them how far their actions have reached Reinhard.

However, just as quickly as the tear appeared it disappeared with a single wipe of the Sword-Saint's hand. Reinhard stopped talking for a minute looking at his father on the ground, looking at Wilhelm before turning back at his mother. The woman he killed twice.

"I am a-"

Time felt like it froze.

Reinhard at first didn't know why but at the same time all his divine protections activated, Od was screaming in his head to duck, but there was no reason to right? Unless there was danger behind him or off to the side, but no the danger was right in front of him, and that danger was his mother. Theresia's hand was already up in the air and in slow motion, Reinhard could already see it coming directly at him.

Of course he could dodge it, in fact, he didn't even have to take a single step forward or a single step back to truly dodge what was coming ahead one of his many divine protections could do that for him but as a monster he deserved this. This slap from his grandmother was well deserved so he turned off all his divine protections and let it happen.

Time resumed normally and almost instantly Theresia's hand made contact with Reinhard's cheek but like the monster he is, though the impact of the slap echoed throughout the entire room Reinhard stood unscathed.

"Theresia-tan!" Subaru cried out completely shocked at how ruthless the sword-woman was. "You can't slap your grandson like that."

"I had to Su." She responded back with no hesitation, her gaze narrowing at Reinhard. "Maybe that slap finally got it in his head that he's not a monster."

The words that came out of Theresia's mouth caused Reinhard to stare in shock, even Heinkel stood up completely flabbergasted by the words came out of his mother's mouth.

"What! But mother he just-" Heinkel was silenced by a single stare.

"You think you're a monster because you were given my blessings and that you killed me?" She raised an eyebrow waiting for Reinhard to answer but that answer never came in the form of words but instead of how his eyes shifted away from her. "Reinhard, you were only a child you had no way of choosing whether you could take my blessing or not!"

"..." The sword-saint remained silent. His eyes slowly began to drift away from his mother's and it would have if the previous generation's sword-saint didn't grab him by the chin and forced him to look up.

"I didn't die because you stole my blessing Reinhard, Od decided it was your time to obtain it and my time was up or was up but here I am now." Theresia stated bluntly a smile forming over her face more and more, all the while her grandson tried his best to turn away from his mother, but his entire body remained still. Though his mind didn't want to listen his heart was hearing every word and slowly he felt a weight being lifted piece by piece, but Theresia wasn't done just yet.

"There's no reason for you to blame yourself." Theresia grabbed Reinhard's arm and pulled him closer into a hug, she was much shorter than her grandson but that didn't stop her from gently rubbing his head. "Even at the battle for Priestella when you struck me down, you did it to save countless. Who knows what I might have done if you didn't step in, I could've killed Heinkel without any mercy."

"G-grandmother you don't understand." Reinhard for the first time in his entire life his soft-spoken kind voice began to break. "When I struck you down, when I took your life I didn't feel anything. I thought of my own grandmother, my own blood as nothing but a puppet.

"And that's wrong?" Theresia's words shook the sword-saint down to his very core, did he hear what he just heard correctly. "You only did your duty as a sword-saint, you didn't even know me that well. If I was in your place I would've done the same thing."

Theresia broke away from the hug but still held on tight to Reinhard once more, their blue eyes connected to one another both staring deep into each other's soul. Theresia stared deeply with a smile. She did not see the monster that Reinhard described but instead saw a kind young man, and Reinhard seeing the kind-hearted woman his father and grandfather had told him countless stories about as a child.

"There's nothing for you to blame yourself about Reinhard." Theresia finally spoke after a minute of pure silence, slowly removing the tears "Got it?"

"Y-yes…grandmother." Reinhard nodded over and over again so hard it almost looked like his head would fall off. "I-I won't ever think that way again, and I'll live up to be better"

Theresia could do nothing but smile at Reinhard meanwhile unbeknownst to both of them, Heinkel was staring with nothing but a mix of shock and burning hatred in his eyes at the scene. Subaru was smiling from ear to ear as well as mentally chanting over and over 'yes,yes,yes'

Wilhelm simply stared at the ground still holding the cheek he got slapped on while the memories of a younger Reinhard flooded into his mind.

His sweet and caring grandson, not knowing anything about the world, would always come to him to hear the story of his glory days. Always willing to spend time with his grandfather and mother on any off day but slowly after the death of Theresia, with his psychical and mental abuse constantly calling him a monster and slapping him for something he didn't do. His grandson would try to approach him only to be verbally assaulted up to the point he would actively try to avoid Wilhelm and cherry pick his words to avoid his wrath.

Where did Wilhelm go wrong? When did his hatred for the white whale transfer over to his grandson?

"Good". With that one word almost instantly Theresia's motherly mood towards Reinhard turned 180 degrees and turned into a cold one. Slowly she turned away from the only innocent person other than Subaru in the room and stared back at the now slowly standing Heinkel who froze at the sight.

"Heinkel Astrea." She narrowed down her eyes at her son stepping closer and closer until she was right in front of him. "How could you? How could you call your own son a monster?" The red-haired saint's voice grew louder. "How could you make him begin to think that he's actually a monster? Answer me, you were such a loving parent, how could you do this?!"

"Me mother?" Heinkel snarled but at the same time began to chuckle. "Do you think I'm the one who started to treat the un- Reinhard like that?"

Heinkel paused for a moment waiting for his mother to speak, no it was almost as if he was daring her to speak but no words came out.

"I admit I treated him like complete shit, but for a second I'm not going to stand here and allow you to talk to me as if I'm the cause of all this." Heinkel's gaze turned away from Theresia and the previous generation's sword-saint noticed and followed her son's gaze. She followed it until it landed directly on Wilhelm who didn't look at their gaze but certainly felt it.

"Aren't you gonna say anything Father?" Heinkel challenged. "Ever since mother died you've been the one who's been abusive towards the sword-saint. Always walking away from him, hitting him, Od as my witness I wasn't even the one who began calling him monster it was-"

"Heinkel!" Theresia growled her heart was aching with each and every word Heinkel had spoken. "You will not shift the blame of your actions over to Wilhelm, from what I heard behind the door I know he has plenty of faults of his own."

From Subaru's words she knew Heinkel wasn't the father he used to be and she could see it. Wilhelm also wasn't the man he used to be but there was no way in his younger years he would do that. No way he would abuse his grandson, yes him disowning Reinhard as a grandson, yes that was more livable but him being abusive no way he would do that to his own blood.

"I'm not shifting any blame." Heinkel took a single step forward looking back at "I want him to admit his faults and for you to get off my back as if I'm the only one who was being a piece of shit." He turned and glared at Theresia, rubbing the side of his cheek that has been slapped not once but twice by the previous sword-saint.

Theresia meanwhile completely had enough of the words coming out of Heinkel's mouth, her son in the past was respectful and would own up to his faults. Not trying his best to redirect the problem that was himself by painting someone else as the worst, she didn't know what caused him to be like this but one thing was for sure. She would slap and talk some sense into him no matter how much time it took.

"Heink-"

"Theresia…" A low old voice spoke silently, and in an instant stopped anything the previous sword-saint was going to say.

Almost instantly everyone turned away from Heinkel and towards the source of the voice belonging to the wife of the sword-saint who was finally no longer staring at the ground. Instead, he was staring directly into the caring but disappointed filled eyes of his wife, Reinhard and Subaru looking intently and with a mix of worry while Heinkel on the other hand was smiling.

"Heinkel is correct I'm afraid." Theresia heard her husband say these words with a tone she hadn't heard in a long time, a tone even when he was in battle and suffered a terrible loss that never came to be, a tone that was filled with nothing but shame.

Complete silence fell the room as the sword-demon took a massive deep breath, his heart beating so loudly it was clouding his thoughts yet no one else could hear it, his mind was aching with pain as all the terrible memories of his sins began to flood. Lastly, his entire being trembled as he dreaded how his wife would react to the full extent of his sins.

Yet whatever happens, he deserved it, after all he was the main cause of Reinhard's pain, he was the reason the sword-saint had such hatred in himself for an act that wasn't even his fault but instead was drilled into his mind at a young age. Od knows if it weren't for his blessing to bring Theresia here in front of him he would've carried the hatred he had in his grandson close to his heart for eternity. Hell even if he was on his deathbed, he would have not even invited Reinhard to witness his last moment.

He was thankful his wife was here, not even a day after he's seen her back alive and well she already made him see the light in his wrong doings. While fixing the emotionally broken Reinhard, all that was left to do was now let go of the little weight that bound his heart by telling the truth, so looking around Wilhelm took a deep breath.

"Ever since your death, I've lost who I truly was." Keeping eye contact with his wife was getting harder with every word. "I fell into a great rage. I blamed everyone who even remotely had something to do with your death, even Reinhard here." He couldn't stand to look at his grandson for his wonderful image was only replaced by the abuse Wilhelm induced when he was younger and even at his old age.

"I called him a monster, I've hit him, I-I-I completely cut him out of my life instead of being a good father." he finally didn't have the strength to stare at his wife's no this angle's face any longer while he recounted ever sinful so he turned away instead offering to look at the floor. "Heinkel after losing his own wife to a coma fell into a deep depression, a depression I did nothing but drag him further into and influence him to also blame Reinhard."

Wilhelm looked away from the floor and though it was hard, though his heart and mind was aching with -pain telling him to not even dare, telling him he didn't deserve too. He turned towards his son Reinhard who stared at him with complete shock.

"Reinhard my grandson, I am sorry for every single sin I have committed and caused you to have such an untrue image of yourself." He turned to his son Heinkel who was smiling from ear to ear when Wilhelm was confessing every word, but that expression quickly changed once father and son made eye contact.

Was Wilhelm going to do what Heinkel truly thought he was going to do? The answer to his question was a yes. "My son, words cannot express how sorry I am for being such a failure of a parent. If only I learn to control my emotions you wouldn't have turned out the way you are, if only I sat by your side when you felt the same pain I was feeling when I lost Theresia."

Then the old Sword-Demon turned to his wife who stared at him not in anger, not in fury the same way she did Heinkel. Instead, she looked at him with a gaze that broke his old heart into a million pieces, it was a gaze of pure disappointment. That look in her eyes, he could tell from deep inside his soul his wife was waiting for him probably couldn't wait to be together and catch up on so many things they missed only to throw that expectation into a river.

Instead of introducing Theresia back to a loving family setting, she instead had to play the role of judge and set everything straight in one day that probably would've taken the three boys years. Wilhelm opened his mouth looking as if he was prepared to speak, say something to his loving wife but he couldn't so he kept it shut.

A few seconds later the old sword-demon, and the young sword-saint simply stared into one another's eyes once more, this time looking deep into each other's soul. Wilhelm's heart began to warm, while Theresia's eyes narrowed even more in disappointment; another few seconds later Theresia began walking towards Wilhelm.

She was walking slowly, slowly, and ever so slowly the first time she had her eyes set at Heinkel. Wilhelm knew where this was going so he closed his eyes and accepted his fate, he was to blame for all of this, he was to blame for his family being so broken. Because of his grief and blind rage towards the innocent people of his own family, he accepted this.

Theresia walked closer, and closer until-

SMACK

Another loud slap echoed throughout the room but this time it was so loud everyone in the room had to cover their ears from the sheer force. If it was another human being the slap given by the retired sword-saint would've knocked off their head cleanly.

"I'm not angry at you Wilhelm," Theresia whispered hoarsely, her hand stinging from the sheer impact of the slap. "I'm disappointed with the man you are right now."

"I know." Wilhelm simply stated, his cheek having a large handprint on it..

"The years weren't kind to us Wilhelm, but that does not mean you let it corrupt you." Theresia continued her voice calm and elegant as always, and each word was burning inside the ears of the heart and soul of the old sword demon.

"I know." Wilhelm sheepishly repeated.

"I know my death has affected you." She paused for a second looking back at Reinhard and Heinkel, and even Subaru before turning back and facing Wilhelm. "It has affected everyone, but families look out for each other, no break each other apart and blame them for something they can't control.

"I know."

"Wilhelm, my heart hurts." The previous sword-saint placed her hand on her chest. "It hurts hearing from Su how terrible of a man Heinkel had become, it hurts seeing how much you all bullied and broke Reinhard. I feel like crying, I hate seeing my family like this."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Wilhelm." Slowly the previous Sword-Saint's hand moved over the old Sword-Demon and she gripped it tightly, so tight it was as if she wouldn't let go of him for the world. "Be and do better to make things right. Just like how Od gave me the chance to live the life stolen from me, this is a chance for all of us to be better, be a family again."

"Theresia." Wilhelm kept on shaking his head. "I spent most of my years with hatred in my heart for my grandson, my time is almost up. I can't take back those years and make them right like you have."

"Then use those remaining years of your life to fix everything!" Theresia simply snapped back for a moment taking the old man by surprise. "If you draw breath, it is not too late. Look at Reinhard over there, he tried to call Heinkel father even though he treated him like-like"

"Complete shit." Subaru politely answered for her to which Theresia could do nothing but smile onwards even in serious situations, Subaru always had a way to lighten up the mood even a little bit and to both Theresia and Wilhelm, they were thankful for that.

"Just as Su said, Reinhard still wanted to have a good relationship with him and even you. There's still time to fix all that, so what do you say, take these few remaining years of your life and fix everything."

"Theresia…" Wilhelm could be seen holding back his tears. "I promise you, I want to spend these few remaining years with my family. I won't carry this unnecessary hate anymore and be a stranger in your eyes but instead as the man you once fell in love with."

"Good." Theresia smiled seeing the look in Wilhelm's eyes she could tell he actually meant every word. "The day is still young, me and Su had plans but I completely derailed them so what do you say all of us get out of this house, and let's go see some flowers."

"That sounds…lovely." Wilhelm smiled back.

"Flowers?" Heinkel nearly spat out. "I don't like flowers nor do I want to be anywhere near you all."

"Oh Heinkel, your father said the same thing when you were younger. Besides-" Almost instantly the moment those words exited her mouth, Theresia's expression nearly darkened completely, scaring Heinkel down to his core. "You have no say in the matter."

"Well grandmother, I for one would love to go see some flowers with you." Reinhard spoke up usually when he said grandmother he would always look down in shame for the sin he thought he committed, always force the swords out but now he can say it freely, freely with a smile on his face.

"Well, no point standing around here let's go."

Without another word the entire Astrea family, even the very reluctant Heinkel, were walking towards the front entrance of the room leaving Subaru on the stage smiling softly. He had plans, a ton of plans that cost a ton of holy coins to set up but looks like those were going in the bin. He didn't care though, the entire point of this reunion was to reunite the Astrea family together and pave a better future for them.

He did what he set out to do and it even worked out better than he could have ever planned in the first place, and on top of that, he met a wonderful new friend. This was a perfect happy ending and he wasn't needed anymore, now the main problem was now he had to hear from a certain pink maid endlessly on how he wasted her lord's money.

"Well all's well that ends well," Subaru muttered under his breath watching as the entire family was just about to leave the door, he was going to turn back around and prepare for the clean-up when all of a sudden Theresia spoke up.

"Su aren't you coming?"

"W-wait what?" Subaru turned his head in sheer shock.

"You have taken such good care of me, it will be a shame to go flower seeing without you." Theresia continued.

"S-sorry I really shouldn't, it's a family matter and I don-"

"Nonsense Subaru-dono." Wilhelm cut him off, a smile could be seen on his face and even Reinhard's whose eyes seemed to shine with glee. "You've helped me slay the white whale, taken such good care of my wife, and even reunited us together."

"You're also a great friend that any man would be lucky to have." Reinhard spoke up after his father.

"From what sounds like it, you are a member of this family Su just not by blood." Theresia finished.

Subaru, well not the first time in his many many lives had no words to speak, nor what to actually do in this situation. A part of him just wanted to stay back and do his part in the cleaning process and not potentially ruin this wholesome family moment. The other wanted to go, after all they were friends and if there was one thing, he loved doing was hanging out with his friends and making terrible jokes.

These two thoughts of his kept going back and forth endless, Subaru truly didn't know what to do until he looked back at the Astrea family standing by the now open door. Each of them looked like they were waiting for him to join them, as if he didn't join, they would not only be disappointed, but the mood would lower dramatically. Reinhard, Theresia, and even Wilhelm had pleading looks on their faces.

"Oh ok." Subaru finally caved in." What's wrong with seeing a little flower?! Ram can yell at me later."

With that Subaru got off the stage and followed the Astrea family out the door, everyone even Heinkel who tried to hide it had a smile on their face. A family relationship that had been broken for decades on end cannot be fixed with a single night, everyone knew that BUT thanks to a chance given by Od and Subaru.

They can at least have a future they can look forward to, it won't be easy, only Od knows the future and it can be a constant struggle. No one knew when death would strike again and take something that belonged to them, but the Astrea family was stronger than ever now. One thing was for sure, none of them would ever repeat the same mistakes that broke them apart in the first place.

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No I am not dead. I am writing in the back-ground. I got so much stuff done but i ain't uploading aight seeya when ever. Maybe another 2 months who knows, and btw any ongoing series I have currently written aren't dead.