Hello hello! It's me (3 days after "A reason to die") as of now I don't have anything to address but this one thing:

If stories! Gotta love em, when I'm done with the first half of this (season 1) I'll go back and make some maybe shorter maybe full length chapters about points in the fanfiction where things could have been different, for example what if Subaru didn't reset and instead listened to Ram? I'm sure there'll be more diverging paths but that's it as of now.

And with nothing else to discuss (yet), enjoy your stay! Or at least, I hope you do!

Note: I'm going off the assumption that Ram can dispel curses, since when questioned Rem mentions that "if only my sister were here" which I would assume means that if Ram were here she could dispel the curses on the children. If I am wrong, well then f me I guess.

Oh, dunno if I've mentioned it yet but I'm an anime only with a bit of outside knowledge due to watching some re:zero videos.

Morning

Light crawled into the room from the windows, stretching across the floor and ending on Subaru's bed. It gave a gentle warmth to Subaru's face that would eventually lead to him waking up. He jolted awake, sitting upright on the bed as he looked at the windows and scanned the room. It was morning, he wasn't sure which day, but he hoped he at least had some amount of time. But one thing remained in his heart, a blazing determination to keep going.

"I will save you."

Subaru got out from his bed but suddenly noticed something on the small table next to his bed. A butlers outfit, more specifically the one Rem had given him on the night of the first day, which could only mean that it is the second day. Subaru had the entirety of this day to find out what happened to Rem and who did it. He doesn't have very much time to do much, so he's gotta put in his 110%! He quickly got changed into his uniform but couldn't help but remember something. He walked over to the window, and looked outside. And there she was, cutting the bushes, alive, breathing and moving. Subaru smiled as he looked at her, it was reassuring to see that she was actually still alive. Though she had also noticed him staring at her he didn't get as nervous as he did last time, he smiled wider and waved to her. She surprisingly waved back before she continued to get to work.

'I have Ram to thank that for."

But enough gawking, Subaru turned around and went to his door as he grabbed the handle and swung the door wide open. Unfortunately he had forgotten one very important thing.

"I suppose you finally came to Betty."

'Crap, right, gotta get electrocuted again to gain this girls trust.'

"Oh, good morning. Beatrice, right?"

"Oh? You're more keen than Betty had thought, I suppose."

'Wait, she probably knows a lot of magic. '

"Hey can I-"

"Before you do anything Betty must make sure of something. Come here."

"Oh, I think I know where this is going."

'Great, I have to get electrocuted again.'

Subaru sighed as he walked over to Beatrice and showed his hands to her. She was a bit surprised that he did actually know what was going to happen, but she continued. She grabbed his hands and within seconds he felt like he was being electrocuted. He almost fell over, god it's even worse the second time!

"Hm, I suppose I was right. Well, ask away then."

"R-right, give me a second.. Alright I'm ready, first of all, can you explain what the hell that was?"

"Betty simply took away most of your mana, I suppose."

"Ah, so thats what that is.. Hey I have another question, are there any magic spells kind of like yours, but they take away all of your mana resulting in death?"

"Why I suppose there is. Though, it's more so a curse than anything else, I suppose. That and such things are what shamans use."

"And they are?"

"They are a sub class of spirit arts and magic users, magicians I suppose. Come here."

Beatrice waved Subaru over, he went "oh" and walked over, leaning down, so he could see what she was pointing at.

"Shamans come from Gusteco in the north, I suppose. Though they aren't to be taken seriously, they are quite weak I suppose. A curse is a spell that is placed upon someone which lets the shaman or caster drain your mana out I suppose."

"Ah, so just like what you did but more?"

"Not more, all of it. Though I suppose Betty could also drain all of yours. Mana is essentially what keeps one alive, if it were all to be drained I suppose there would be nothing keeping you alive."

"...Oh- Well uh, maybe don't do that-"

"Betty couldn't spare the effort to kill you, though it is completely unnecessary, I suppose. And curses must be placed on someone by contact and then it can be activated later. However Betty's mana draining can be done immediately upon contact."

"Well that's good and.. Uh, can just anyone do the mana draining thing?"

"No, within this mansion the only ones who can do such would be Bubby and I. Not even Roswaal can do it, I suppose."

"Ah, well then.. Who could've possibly done it?... Hey I have a question, is there anyway you can find out who had done it?"

"I suppose if you remember where you were touched by everyone who touched you, you would know who it is, as a mist shows up where you were touched by the person."

"So the plan is just remembering who touched me for the day if I think I got cursed?"

"I suppose that could be a way of going about it."

"Alright then I know what to do, until next time Beatrice!"

"It seems that Betty can finally focus."

Subaru was already out of the room by then, which resulted in him now being in the hallway of the mansion. He looked left and right and saw Ram, he walked over and tapped her on the shoulder she turned around and looked a bit spooked, seems like he still can't help but sneak up on her. (on accident, of course)

"Do you not know what to do Barusu?"

"Not exactly, hey actually, could I just help Rem out for the day?"

"Oh? And why is that exactly? What do you intend to do with Rem?"

"Nothing like that!.. Well maybe not yet.."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Moving on, I feel like our relationship could be better and the only way I can do that is to be around her of course!"

"I have handled it, though I guess you're right. Don't go around thinking impure thoughts around my sister."

"R-right-.. Wait a minute! Hey I'm not like that!"

Ram just snickered at Subaru's nervous anger as she continued walking, Subaru followed her.

"I don't really have an excuse as to why.. Hey how about I say you did it?"

"Well, only because you're that bad at confrontation Barusu."

"Come on! Do you have to turn around everything I say on me?"

"I only say the truth Barusu, even if it's a depressing one like yours."

"Ow- it really hurts man- Right! Well, have a great day Ram! I'm gonna go help your sister out, thanks for helping out!"

Subaru ran to the end of the hall, Ram probably said some sort of remark towards him, but he legitimately couldn't hear her. Subaru actually knew his way around this giant mansion now, he hadn't realized it, but he got pretty good in just three days. He went to the exit and looked over at the decorative bushes, Rem was already halfway done with trimming them. Subaru walked over and picked up a thing of shears and stood next to Rem, who had actually stopped trimming the second Subaru came out of the mansion. Though when he grabbed the shears she went back to trimming the bushes.

"Good morning Rem! This suit fits just great on! You really did a great job, so I've gotta thank you for that."

Rem looked at him and quietly nodded, Subaru hadn't noticed but Rem really doesn't talk all too much. Well, she did talk more but that was on the third day.. Must be because she doesn't trust him very much yet. He should mention it later, maybe tomorrow. For now, he began trimming the decorative bushes, he wasn't great just yet, but he was good enough to make them look neat and tidy. Subaru couldn't help but continue to notice that Rem was still looking at his hands, it was rather reassuring if anything. The lack of cuts on his hands was a sign that he still had a chance to save her.

A while had passed, Subaru and Rem made good work of the mansions massive garden, they had trimmed all the bushes and had even fertilized some of them. Subaru kind of just stood and looked at what Rem, and he had done. He turned to Rem who was standing next to him and put up a thumbs up with an energetic smile.

"Great job Rem! Everything looks great already!"

Rem nodded in acknowledgment to what Subaru had said, though her focus was drifting towards his hands again. She inhaled as if to speak but Subaru turned to her and took a step closer, bringing his hands up to eye level.

"Also, thank you for this. Now that I think about it, is this what you were up to at night?"

"Oh.. Yes Rem noticed your cuts while giving you the suit. Rem wants to.. Apologize for her impoliteness."

"It's no problem really, you didn't do anything bad! You were just a bit mean and that's all, nothing I can't get over! Plus it'd make today way harder if I held a grudge towards you"

"And why is that?"

"Well, Ram made me help you out for the entirety of the day. So holding a grudge against you would make it harder to work. I think teamwork is a great thing when it comes to working!"

"Hm.. Rem has to agree. Rem has to clean the baths next."

"Alright, let's go then! After you, the sooner we finish this the longer we can have a break!

Rem began walking as Subaru followed her, he had to make small talk one way or another right? He has to earn this blue birdies trust!

"Hey Rem?"

"?"

"You don't seem to talk very much, it's either Ram talks for you or you just nod your head. You should talk more you know, it's a waste keeping that pretty voice of yours locked away after all."

Rem looked away from Subaru for a second as she thought about what he said "Oh.. Rem will try and speak more then."

"Great! I'm nothing but glad! So, what do you want to talk about Rem?"

".. Why is it that you saved lady Emilia? Big sis said how but never told me why."

"Oh well.. It was mainly to save my friend, but, when I met Emilia, she may have been one of the kindest people I've met in this world. See it was a win win, help my friend out and gain a new friend! Plus, it got me here and I got to meet you and your sister so it's like a win win win!"

"Ah.. Rem understands now, but, who is your friend?"

"Well Felt, the little girl who stole Emilia's insignia. She's not a bad person, she doesn't really have any other choice. Of course, I tried to stop her but well.. It didn't really work out too well for me. At least I still ended up winning in the end haha-"

"Yes.. You seemed to of had good fortune. It seems we are here, Subaru."

"Oh, right, kind of forgot about cleaning the baths. Well, guess we gotta get to work don't we?"

Subaru grabbed a brush and got to work, he rather vigorously began scrubbing the entire place. Rem watched as Subaru cleaned the bath, seems like he has that handled so Rem began cleaning the floor around the bath. After about five minutes however they were completely done! Purely because of Subaru and how fast he decided to work. He stood there, resting his right arm on his brush as he breathed in and out.

"Woo! We're already done so quick!"

"Yes, it seems as such."

"Then what's next? Cooking? Cleaning? Washing?"

"Rem will be cooking Lord Roswaal and miss Emilia's food"

"Great! Personally speaking I've gotten relatively better at cooking.. I'm still not that good but yknow I'm trying my best right?"

"As long as you do not bring Rem down with you your best is fine, Subaru."

"Hey I'm good enough! Just you watch"

'I'll show her something to be impressed by!'

Afternoon

(Note, I haven't cooked a day in my life I'm sorry if something here is unrealistic)

Subaru and Rem were in the kitchen, Subaru was vigorously peeling potatoes. Rem was stirring pots and cooking. Subaru grabbed the potatoes and split them up into six pieces each, he picked up the cutting board and dropped the potatoes into one of the pots as he grabbed a bunch of onions and carrots. Rem watched as Subaru through tears quickly minced the onions and carrots and put them into a pan and began stir frying them. And although Subaru looked focused on the outside on the inside he was falling apart. He had Rem watching him as he tried to prove his worth, he was pretty sure he almost cut his thumb off once while chopping the vegetables.

"Wow Subaru, Rem must say you have improved quickly. Yesterday it looked as if you'd never worked a day in your life."

"Y-yeah, well uh, when I have a goal I usually feel motivated to achieve that goal yknow?"

"Oh? May Rem ask what your goal is?"

'I'm gonna singe the nerves off my hands god!'

"A-ah well uh, right uh, I have you to prove myself to, so I wanna impress you! Seems like it's working-"

"Ah, Rem also had someone to impress."

'Crap the meat!'

Subaru put the pan on a different stove as he turned around and chopped a piece of assumedly beef into smaller pieces, he then put that in the pan before putting it back on the fire and frying it.

"Oh? And who was it you were t- Ah! Trying to impress?"

'I am so bad at this!'

"Rem never had as powerful magic abilities as big sis, so Rem focused on other skills."

"I see! Well you've been very impressive so far!"

Subaru pulled the pan away and placed it on the counter off the stoves. He turned to Rem, wiped the sweat off his forehead, put on a smile and excitedly exclaimed.

"And done! Looked at it!"

".. Though it looks good, Rem must ask what exactly have you cooked Subaru?"

"Uh... I don't really... know-"

"Of course you don't."

"Well it's still food! And probably tasty too, here let me try"

He grabbed a fork and ate a piece of it, he put up a thumbs up impressed with his own work.

"Mhm! As expected of Natsuki Subaru! Perfection!" He struck a pose.

"Rem wouldn't go that far, but well done."

"R-right-" Subaru went back to normal and put the stir-fried something on two plates of rice and picked them up before turning to Rem who was turning the stove off. Subaru walked over to the door and waited for Rem, who nodded and walked over opening and holding the door open for Subaru. He smiled and left the kitchen.

"Thanks, let's go then!"

Rem nodded again and followed Subaru, he looked out the windows and it was already about to get late, so he should hurry up after they eat.

"So, how have I been so far?"

"Hm?"

"As a worker."

"Ah, well, you're doing well enough, better than you were yesterday Subaru."

"Great! You've got me demonically inspired to be better!"

"Demonically Inspired?.. Do you like demons Subaru?"

"Course I do, demons will laugh with you about next year or the future. Like a talking to an old friend, why wouldn't I like demons?"

Rem looked at Subaru, and smiled. Subaru looked at her and returned the smile to her. Looking into her eyes he felt warm inside, he couldn't explain, but it was probably for the better to hide it away. Subaru looked towards the door to the dining room, he looked to Rem who opened the door and held it open for Subaru who walked inside. He walked over to Roswaal and placed down his plate, he walked over to Emilia and did the same smiling to her as well. He then walked over to his position at the other side of the table and waited for them to eat.

"Ah, good Afternoon Subaruuuuuu! How are the maids treating you?"

"Great! I'm having a great time here actually! Rem and Ram have been very hospitable!"

"I'm glad to heeeaaar it Subaru, well then, with nooooothing else, let's diiine"

'Roswaal is.. Certainly something. I dunno how the twins could've dealt with him for their entire lives... speaking of lives, the Subaru in this world shouldn't know some of the things that I do. I'll need to ask them again, or make up excuses for why I know it, the latter of which being too much of a hassle. I think I'll just ask them stuff again, it's as simple as that after all... Dang, I thought I'd have some time to train for a fight or at least try and study magic. I'm going into this fight blind it seems.'

Roswaal and Emilia had finished dinning, Subaru walked over to Emilia, and she lit up when he did. It's always nice to know someone openly cares about you.

"Subaru! How are you?"

"Great actually! I dont have much time for myself but at least I can spend it with you rig-"

"Subaru!"

Suddenly something small and fluffy shot into Subaru's forehead, upon closer inspection it was Puck! He grabbed him and as "punishment" Subaru began petting him.

"Stop it! Hahaha! Stop seriously! Haha-"

"Never! This is what you get for starting a fight you couldn't handle!" However after a bit more of bickering Subaru let go of Puck and looked at him.

"I still gotta owe it to ya, you really saved Emilia back then. I'll give you anyone wish I can grant!"

"Oh, well I already have what Roswaal's offering so how about I'm allowed to Pet you when very I feel like it?"

"Peh, if that's all then I don't care at all!"

"Great! But actually, I gotta go for now. It was nice checking back up with the two of you.. How about this, I promise to spend all of my free time with you tomorrow Emilia! We could even go out to the village or something."

"Oh?.. Sure thing! I would love that Subaru!"

"Then it is a date!"

"A date?"

"Nothing important mhm uhuh bye-"

'Phew, she doesn't know what a date is. Lack of knowledge saved my tail today!'

Subaru went over to Rem and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked at curiously.

"Hey Rem, let's go to the village and buy some of the stuff we need. We actually ended up using a lot of our ingredients in the cooking today."

"Oh, you seem to be correct in that Subaru. Rem was thinking about going on a trip to the village as well. But Rem must clean the dishes fir-"

"It's no problem Rem, let your big sister handle it! You go out with Barusu!"

She gave a knowing smile and a wink to Subaru...

'What exactly is she implying by that?! And she calls me the pervert.'

Subaru sighed and put a thumbs up in acknowledgment to Rams duties as wing woman. Rem looked at Ram and then to Subaru a bit perplexed, but she took a breath in and smiled.

"Then we should go, shouldn't we Subaru?"

"Yup, after me then."

'That went easier than I had imagined. Now then, how do I get everyone to touch me.. that didn't come out right-'

Subaru Turned to the door out of the dinning room and made his way to the exit of the Mansion, Rem was behind him following him out of the mansion the entire time. Once out they still had a good bit of time before it was Sundown, so he had to really get everyone riled up. But well, for now, he could just walk to the village with Rem.

"So Rem, how long have you been working for Lord Roswaal?"

"Rem and big sis have been working for Lord Roswaal since they were kids."

"Really? That's a long time to work for someone. But well, I won't pry into it. I must ask though, why is it you were untrusting of me at first?"

Rem looked down at the ground as she walked, contemplating what to say as she thought for a minute before finally speaking up. "... Rem has trouble trusting others.. You seemed suspiciously at first but Rem was wrong, and Rem still wants to make it up to you Subaru."

Subaru placed a hand on Rems shoulder. Rem looked up from the ground at Subaru.

"Come on Rem, do I have to spell it out for you? You've already made it up to me, there's nothing left for you to apologize for. I dunno why you're being so harsh on yourself, whatever you think you did is an exaggeration at best. Cheer up, you'll look way more pretty if you were smiling."

Rem listened to Subaru, and it seemed that she took his words to heart. She smiled again and that caused Subaru to smile as well, he chuckled and let go of her shoulder as he went down the trail.

"Thank you, Subaru."

"Nah, thank you. Before this I was just some loser nobody, I'd take this life over my last any day."

Rem's smile seemed to last a bit longer than normally. Subaru looked straight ahead, as the village was coming into view finally.

"There it is, and uh, I gotta be honest with you Rem I barely even know basic glyphs let alone know this language.."

"But you are speaking it aren't you Subaru?"

"Right, well we speak the same language, but we don't really write the same language. Hence, why I can speak it but can't read it."

"Ah, Rem understands.. then why did you want to go out with Rem?"

"O-oh, well uh, I can still help of course, I'll carry the bags for you and you order. But I've got something important to do first, meet me back at the middle of the village when you're done shopping alright Rem?"

"Alright, Rem will be done soon."

Subaru waved goodbye to Rem, and she did the same. Subaru began walking to the middle as he thought of a plan.. he was at a dead end until he realized he had one thing no one other had!

'Radio calisthenics!'

Sundown

And so Rem returned to the middle of the city, just to see most of the villagers all up in one big circle with Subaru. They all had they hand in the air with big smiles as Subaru yelled something.

"Say it with me now, 1, 2, 3,

victory!"

The entire townsfolk were smiling and talking to Subaru, giving him fist bumps, high fives, Rem even saw one of the old ladies touch Subaru inappropriately! She would watch him go around making some sort of hand-to-hand contact with everyone around him. The whole sight was something to behold, the joy of the kids and the townsfolk poured into Rem as well, she was happy for Subaru and smiled as she walked over to Subaru.

"You seem to have a way with people Subaru."

"Oh- N-nah, I probably just got lucky."

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself Subaru."

"Oh, well then uh.. Yeah, I suppose the people here do like me. But well it was mostly because of the radio calisthenics, it brings everyone together! Doesn't matter who young, adult or old everyone can take part in it."

"Well Rem thinks that is something to be admired."

"Subaru! Subaru! Subaru!"

"Huh?"

Subaru turned around, he was met with the same blue haired girl from the last run. Meili. The one with the small puppy she shouldn't be with, last time Rem got bit and well, he doesn't really want that to happen again, so he'll just have to be bitten for Rem this time. Meili walled over and showed the puppy off to Subaru, he smiled as he listened to her.

"Isn't she cute? Don't tell our parents, they won't let us have her!"

"I won't don't worry, she really is one pretty thing." He smiled as he gently placed his hand onto its head and pet it, and just as expected he got bitten by the dog. He quickly retracted his hand as blood splattered around, kinds reminds him of the slums.

"Ow! Hey! Bad puppy!"

"Hehe, that's what you get for petting too hardly!"

"Alright, go put the puppy back now Meili"

"Okay Subaru!"

And so Meili went away with the rest of the kids and the townsfolk. Subaru turned to Rem who seemed concerned and worried.

"Subaru, is your hand alright?"

"Oh?" He lifted his bleeding hand up to eye level. "It doesn't hurt, its fine really. Just bleeding."

"No, let Rem heal it for you."

"Oh, yeah, you can do that can't you? Here you go" He put his hand near her, and she grabbed it gently.

"Mana of water, heal this damaged body."

A small sphere of blue tinted light appeared and Subarus hand stopped bleeding and hurting. He smiled and Rem let go of his hand.

"Thanks Rem! Well, hand the bags over and let's get back to the mansion."

'.. Alright, I made contact with everyone somewhere on my body.. its kind of a hassle to remember it all if I'm being honest but if I'm not cursed I'll get Rem cleared and then go and try finding the shaman myself later. Let's hope this works...'

Rem nodded as she handed Subaru the two big bags of groceries, the two would then begin going back to the mansion together as the sun set. Subaru remembered last time he walked through here with Rem, they were talking more. But Subaru didn't really know what else to ask, he knows things he shouldn't. Or, Rem doesn't remember what he's done. Either way, unfortunately his happy moments are in the past.

'Man.. Of all the superpowers to have this has to be one of the worst ones. Maybe if death didn't hurt so much or I could control where I was being taken back to it would be better..'

Subaru noticed Rem out of the corner of his eye looking at him. He turned his head and looked to her curiously.

"What are you looking at?"

"You seem to have something on your mind Subaru."

"Oh well, it's not anything important."

"You can confide within Rem, Rem wouldn't tell another soul."

"Heh, although I know I could trust you it really isn't anything important. Things are just looking kind of hard for me is all, nothing you have to concern yourself with Rem! You just worry about working hard and looking pretty."

Rem laughed, as did Subaru. The mansion came into view, and Subaru quickly noticed Lord Roswaal and Ram standing in front of the entrance. Now what was really jarring to Subaru was seeing Lord Roswaal in actually formal wear, not just a jester's or clowns outfit. Subaru walked over and stood in front of the two.

"Ah, finaalllyyy it seems you two have returned."

"What's the occasion Lord Roswaal?"

Rem chimed in, seemingly as curious as Subaru. "Are you going out?"

"I'm off to visit someone who doesn't quite enjoooooyyy anything less than formal wear. I was told of something quite troublesome. So I will be off foooor the night. So I enlist the mansion to you two, Rem and Ram."

"Yes, as you wish."

"Yes, even if it costs our lives."

'Jeez, if didn't know any better I'd think the two of them were being mind controlle-'

Roswaal looked at Subaru, things felt oddly quiet even if it had just been a few seconds.

"I'll be relying on you too, care."

"Of course! I wouldn't want to be a bad worker!"

"Then, take care until I've returned all of you."

And with that Roswaal took a couple steps in front of himself before jumping up into the air and.. Not landing, no, instead he flew up into the air and into flew the distance.

"What?! He can fly!? Magic really is great!"

'... Now that I think about it, this is news. Last time Roswaal hadn't left the mansion or anything, maybe me knowing about the shaman triggered this? Maybe that's a good omen, let's hope so at least.'

Evening

Subaru helped Rem and Ram put the things into their correct placements within the kitchen before he bid the two farewell, as he made his way to the halls of the mansion. And before long, he felt an odd suspicious aura around one of the doors. He grabbed the handle, turned the know and swung it open.

"Betty!"

"Hmph. I suppose the rat found his way back into Betty's mansion."

"Indeed he did haha!"

He walked inside and closed the door before looking at Beatrice again, she looked mildly annoyed at his presence.

"Does it truly take you do much effort to knock before you enter Betty's library?"

"Oh, right, sorry I'll do that next time. But first and foremost here's what's important, I'm pretty sure I've been cursed."

"Seriously?" Betty jumped down from her chair even more so annoyed as she began walking closer to him. "I told you earlier this very day and you come saying you've been cursed? Are you as influenced as a chi- Wait, you have been cursed."

"Just as said, could you say what type it is?"

"Betty can't just look at a curse and know what it is! But I suppose you are too dumb to remember that. Either way, I suppose you'll die when it activates."

"Right, sorry. Well, seeing as I don't want to die today could you dispel the curse for me?"

"And why should Betty do that?"

"Well, I don't really think you'd want me to die, do you? Plus how would you explain it to the rest of the people in this mansion when they find my dead corpse inside your library?"

"Hmph! You silver tongued snake! I suppose Betty will give in to your request, and this will be the last time we speak!"

"Sorry- I don't particularly like dying you know?"

"You didn't need to drag Betty into this I suppose, but as it seems the curse will be burned into where the shaman touched you."

"Yup! I made sure to remember who touched me and where."

Betty, annoyed and angry took her hand out and spread it out as it glowed a slight white. Soon, Subaru would notice a black mist growing from his hand. Specifically the one that the dog had bitten.. Subaru's eyes widened.

'No.. that could only mean'

"The kids!"

Subaru felt his heart become heavy as it felt like he was falling, if he had been bitten by that damned dog there's no chance it didn't do the same to the kids. Subaru looked at Beatrice who was questioning why he randomly shouted "the kids" but shook her head and grabbed the mist with her hand and it quickly dispersed. He stood back up straight and looked down at Beatrice.

"Well, that should be it I suppose."

"I need to go back to the village, thank you, Betty!"

Subaru turned around and swung the door open before going into the hallways again. He ran through them to get to the exit of the mansion, he opened the doors at the end of the hallway and turned to the exit. There just wasn't enough time to alert anyone else about it, plus it's just puppy. But something of a realization hit him when he grabbed the door handle, how would he dispel the curse? There was nothing he could do about that, otherwise he wouldn't of even asked Beatrice about it.

'Damn it! What the hell am I gonna do?! I'm so useless-'

"Barusu?"

Subaru felt a wave of chills goes down his spine from the unexpected voice behind him. He turned around to be met with Ram, she was holding what appeared to be newly washed clothes in her grasp and was curiously looking at Subaru. Subaru sighed our of relief, but remembered that according to Rem Ram was more magically adept than her.

"Ram! I don't have time to explain but can you dispel curses?"

"Yes I can dispel curses, but why are you asking me this?"

"This may be a lot to ask you of, but I really nodded you help with this. At the village I was cursed by a shaman that happened to be a small unassuming puppy. That puppy was in the hands of a kid and there's no way that thing didn't bite the rest of the kids! I can't just let them die, that would be horrible of me! But.. I'm too weak on my own to do anything but, but you aren't! So please Ram help me out! I know I shouldn't be asking a maid out of all people but you're the only person I can ask help for right now!"

Ram seemed to be deep in thought as she looked at Subaru. She closed her eyes before nodding, a smile came across her face as she looked at Subaru.

"Of course, who would I be to not help those too weak to defend themselves? Plus how could I let someone as suspicious as you out on the loose by yourself? Clearly someone as defect as you could only get by conning others or with my he-"

"I'm gonna ask Rem."

"Alright! Have you told Rem yet?"

"No, its a coincidence that I even got to ask you."

"Wait here then, I will alert Rem, and then we will leave."

"Be quick! Off you go we don't have a lot of time!"

Subaru and Ram ran all the way to the village, Rem was left behind at the mansion to protect Emilia and the mansion itself. Subaru was scared, he was extremely scared. Scared he'd fail, scared he'd get Ram killed scared that he would get hurt.. But worst of all, he was scared that he would die again. Though he had only died twice until now it both times it hurt too much to imagine, the coldness of death was something that he didn't think he'd ever experience. At least, not for a while. But here he is, having died twice... Once even at his own hands. He had to get this off his mind, he looked around the village and saw someone running around with a torch. He pointed at them.

"Ram look! We gotta ask what's happened!"

Ram nodded, and he ran over with her to the guy, he looked at Subaru and Ram with concern, the two of them did the same.

"What's happening?"

"All the kids have disappeared! Everyone's in a hassle trying to find them!"

"Crap! Come on think.."

'Where could they gave gone.. Come on, there has to be some sort of clue.. Wait, Meili mentioned finding the dog by the fence.

"The fences! Check the fences for footprints or something!"

The three of them ran over and as they ran across the fences looking for any clues of where the kids were Subaru noticed the weird glowing crystals on the walls. He pointed to them.

"What are those?"

"They are a barrier, they keep mabeast out!"

"Wait then what does it mean when one of them isn't glowing?!"

"The barriers broken in that spot."

"Crap! Look!" He pointed to one of the crystals that they had passed, and indeed it wasn't kit up.

"Why didn't you ask us sooner Barusu?!"

"Sorry! Whatever lets just look!"

The three of them walked back to the broken spot in the barrier and right there on the ground were several footprints across the ground.

"There, you! You get the rest of the village I'm going in there!"

"What? Are you crazy man? Wait for the rest of us mabeasts are dangerous!"

"You need not worry, I am here after all. And though I am hornless I am still I am quite adept at wind magic. I can protect the two of us."

".. Well, if you're sure ma'am. I'm gonna get everyone else you two watch out for yourselves while you're in there, we don't want to lose anymore people than we already have."

Subaru gave a thumbs up and a smile as he nodded. The villager ran to get everyone else as Subaru jumped the fence and went into the forest, Ram followed him.

"What exactly is a mabeast?"

"The enemies of mankind, animals created by the witch herself."

"Oh.. that uh, doesn't sound all too well... but, who's this witch you're talking about?"

".. It's not something that should be spoken about, Barusu."

"Oh, alright, mind me asking what you meant by Horne-"

"Barusu something is watching us."

"Wha-"

"Behind you!"

Subaru turned around to see a giant wolf unlike any other he had even seen, is this thing even a dog? Either way luckily before it could even do anything a gust of wind flew past the side of his head and cut the entire thing in two.

'Was that Ram?!'

He turned around just to see two more mabeast in front of them, of course both of those were also cut in half. Subaru was completely on edge but Ram looked relatively calm now.

"Oh my god! Where would I be without you? I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes twice! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Hah, of course where would you be without me? You can stop saying thank you now, Barusu."

"Right-"

Subaru followed Ram, once again it became quiet in the forest.

"Is there any way you could see the kids like you saw the dogs before they almost killed me?"

"Yes, but I haven't quite seen anything yet. Be patient Barusu."

"How can I be patient? The lives of those kids are at stake not to mention both of ours! I'm scared out of my mind.. I'm not strong like you, I can't even heal myself like Rem.. All I can do ask others for help and never be able to repay them.."

"Hmph, this isn't the time to mope around. The lives of those kids are at stake no? Then you should focus on finding them rather than being sorry for yourself Barusu."

"Right, right! have you seen anything yet?"

"Let me check... Over there! Quickly!"

Ram pointed somewhere to the left of them, and the two ran over, Subaru was still extremely scared, but he wasn't trying to let it get to him. At least not for now, as they ran eventually they made it to a clearing, on top of a hill among others were all the kids. He ran over and looked at them then to Ram.

"Quick! Destroy the curses!"

Ram nodded, she crouched down next to the orange haired one with a red bow, Petra. Subaru counted the kids but to his dismay he was one short. Meili herself, the blue haired one who found the damning puppy in the first place. He turned to Ram, he wasn't gonna ask her to go after the girl right?.. No, he couldn't even make that happen if he tried, Ram had to stay here to protect and heal the kids.

"Ram, one of the kids are missing.. I, I have to get them... Any sign of them? They have blue hair."

Ram closed her eyes as she continued destroying the curse. She then opened them and looked at Subaru.

"Over there, come back here quickly, I wouldn't want you dying to a mabeast."

"Right, don't even worry I'll be back in no time!"

'Did she just say she didn't want me to die?.. Hah, guess that stuck through the lives.'

Subaru ran in the direction Ram had pointed him to, he was afraid, very afraid. The only magic he had was Solux, and he couldn't even flash bang bad guys with El Solux, he just had the basic form of So lux.

"Solux!"

A small ball of light formed in the palm of Subaru's hand and floated there lightning up the surrounding area.

'If only I had more time to train.'

Night

Subaru eventually made it, he wasn't too far from the rest of the kids and Ram. He was at a small clearing, a bit of water circled a small amount of land with a tree trunk on it. Next to the tree trunk laid Meili, asleep and as hurt as the rest of the kids. He ran over and crouched down next to her.

"Meili you idiot.."

He was about to pick her up when he heard growling, he quickly turned around. and saw two red pairs of eyes in the shadows.

'C-crap!'

Subaru took a step back and looked around him to see if there was anything he could use for his advantage, he saw that the tree trunk had one pretty big and solid stick still attached to it. So he grabbed it and yanked it off, he didn't have much time as the mabeast ran out from the shadows and lunged at him. It opened its gaping maw filled with teeth and Subaru Plunged the stick into and through its throat. He took a step to the side and face planted into the tree trunk, dead and bleeding from the hole.

'Holy shit, I actually just did that! But.. now the sticks gone, let's just get out of here.'

Subaru again turned to Meili to pick her up but again he heard growling, but this time, he was completely surrounded by mabeasts. Subaru had no where to go. He couldn't even protect Meili anymore, he didn't want to accept his death, and he was scared of the pain that would come from it. But he was lost at what to do, with nothing else left maybe he could just make a run for it!

Subaru picked Meili up and ran for a clearing without mabeast. He heard running, growling, howling and scraping behind him as he ran with everything he could. But even then he wouldn't last long enough to get out, before he suddenly felt a pair of teeth crunch down on his arm. Subaru let out a scream as he dropped to the floor, Meili landed a meter or so away in front of him.

"AH! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

He kicked the mabeast in the face against a tree until it's face was molded into the bark of the tree itself. He tried to get back up to get to Meili but before he could even do that the rest of the mabeast had caught up with him.

"GET OFF ME! RAM! REM! ROSWAAL! HELP!"

His screams would be muffled out as the mabeast began killing Subaru, digging their claws into his skin and testing off meat from his body as he was still alive, he continued screaming and resisting trying his hardest despite all his fear and pain to try and save Meili.. but, it just.. wasn't enough.

Subaru couldn't even make words anymore. He could barely string together thoughts as he tried to crawl or drag himself to Meili, but as he continued for the few seconds he remained alive he would slowly lose what little was left of him as he couldn't feel his limbs. He was screaming, probably at least. He couldn't tell since the sounds of his own body being torn apart by those monsters were the only thing he even could hear.

Maybe he should've waited for Ram, maybe he should've been screaming for Ram. But it was over. Despite his hardest efforts he just simply wasn't good enough. He felt one of the mabeast wrap its jaw around his neck before chomping down. And without another hard beat, everything became much, much, much colder.

Morning

Subaru didn't wake up calm, he woke up in an agonizing scream as he flailed around in his bed. He could still feel the shock of the pain from dying, he screamed so loud he was pretty sure he was gonna tear a hole through his lungs or throat. He clutched his left arm, he could actually feel it. He dragged his fingers across the bed sheets as he sighed out of relief.. The feeling of reaching out with your arm just to not feel anything when you're doing the exact thing you do everytime you reach for something is the worst thing Subaru had ever experienced. Subaru began calming down, he just laid back down into his bed and closed his eyes, he covered his face with his hands quietly began sobbing to himself.

'.. Why.. Why can't I just tell them.. why did I fail.. I tried so hard.. But.. Nothing ever works.. I couldn't tell Felt.. I can't tell Emilia.. I can't tell Rem.. I can't tell Ram.. I'm by myself.. I don't want to be alone in this..'

There was a knock at Subaru's door, he moved his hands down from his tear filled face and looked over as the door opened. It was Emilia, she closed the door behind herself and took a step deeper into the room before looking at Subaru.

"I heard screaming from my room, so I rushed over, is everything okay Su-"

She gasped and held a hand over her mouth as she saw Subaru's tear filled eyes and face. She was shocked and worried as she looked at him. Subaru just tried to hide his pitiful face in his hands again. He didn't want anyone to see him like this, let alone Emilia.

"Subaru? What's wrong?"

He heard her walk over to the side of the bed before he felt her sit down on the side of his bed. Subaru didn't want to talk, it's not like he could tell her either way. That girl in the mist with the hands would come for him again if he ever even tried to mention his power or his past lives to anyone.

".. Subaru, what's wrong?.. Please, tell me."

Emilia was in a softer and calmer voice than she was usually, but Subaru didn't even want to bother. It was only until he felt Emilia grab his left hand and pull it off his face, holding it in her own hand as she looked at Subaru. Subaru looked at her, she was frowning and looked genuinely sad and distraught because of Subaru pain and anguish. She gently rubbed in Subaru's palm with her thumb as she looked at him empathetically.

"I... I had a dream about something bad in my life.. Something that's like a thorn in my back.."

"You can tell me Subaru, please, just be honest with me."

".. I.. I failed to save someone.. Twice.. and, I hurt both of us.. and now I'm, I've been left behind by them.. because I keep failing.." Subaru tried his best to speak in between his sniffles and sobs, though it was hard, he still felt some amount of shock from being torn apart. His throat was also sore and hurt from screaming when he woke up from dying.

'God.. I'm so pathetic..'

"It's alright Subaru, just because you fail sometimes doesn't mean you will always fail or that you are or ever will be a failure. You, you saved me Subaru. Twice, in my eyes, if you ask me, you're like a hero. My hero. You.. You didn't run away from me, or think I'm a monster, or hate me. Despite it all.. You stayed with me, and for that, you are my hero."

Emilia smiled while she spoke to Subaru, she held Subaru's hand tighter in her own and looked at him as she did. She got happy and excited when she saw him slowly stop sobbing when she spoke to him. It was like her heart skipped a beat when Subaru smiled at her again, even if it was a small smile, a smile is a smile. She didn't understand a lot of what Subaru was going through, but even if she didn't or couldn't know the full story she would still try her best to make Subaru feel better, just like he made her feel happy about herself when they first met. She was happy here, she was happy here with Subaru. And she would do her best at making him be happy with her as well.

Subaru felt even more tears roll down his cheeks, but he wasn't crying out of his failed attempt, he was crying because of Emilia's words. That someone would actually care this much about him and feel like this towards him. Although still recovering he wasn't burdened as much as he was before. He held Emilia's hand as tight as she did his, before he sat up on his bed and wiped his tears away. His tiny smile turned into a big one as he looked at Emilia smile back at him.

"Thank you, Emilia, I really needed that."

"Great, I'm happy that you're happy."

"Right.. I should uh- probably get to work-"

"O-oh- Right, yes-"

The two of them panicked and looked away from each other, both of their faces turning red. Subaru didn't want to let go of Emilia's hand, but he felt her grip slowly loosen, so he let go as well, to his dismay.

"W-well, I'll see you later Emilia!"

"R-right! Yes, later! Goodbye!"

Emilia nervously and quickly left Subaru's room as Subaru nudged over to the side of his bed and sat down on it. He looked at the folded butlers outfit on the small table next to his bed that Rem had made him last night and stood up to get changed. He was still happy, thinking about Emilia.

'How could I have forgotten.. Emilia cares about me too.'

Subaru opened the door to his room just to be met face to face with Beatrice again.

'.. Right. How could I have forgotten?'

"It seems you have finally found me again, I suppose."

"Yeah, you kinda put your door crossing in my room."

"Oh? You know of Betty's door crossing?"

"Yeah, Emilia warned me about you yesterday."

"I see, then may I ask you of something?"

"You're gonna drain my mana right? I can tell you right now I am safe 100%! No need to do all of that!.. It really hurts."

"Hmph, I suppose Betty cannot do that. Since our last meeting you smell even more of the witch'es scent. At first, it was a small faint coat of the stench, Betty could barely smell it but now I can confirm it I suppose. You smell of the witch'es scent."

".. I smell of a witch? Who?"

"Usually in this world when someone speaks of "the witch" they're referring to the witch of Envy. Either way, your nothing but a burden having her favoritism."

"The witch of envy? Having her favoritism? I have no idea who you're talking about, care to elaborate Betty?"

"Not until I can assure you are nothing but an annoying bug in my library."

"Wow, I'm not sure anyone could make the word "safe" be anymore insulting than you Betty."

Betty didn't respond and simply waited for Subaru, he sighed and walked over to her before putting his hands out and letting Beatrice grab them before he felt the shocking sensation burrow through his entire body as he nearly fell to his knees again.

"G-god- Just as bad as last time-"

Subaru took a minute to recover as he stood back up straight and looked down at Beatrice.

"Right, care to explain who the witch of Envy is now?"

"The witch of Envy, otherwise known as Satella. Long ago she devoured the other 6 witches and destroyed one half of the word, if you are to describe her within a nutshell I suppose you would call her the worst of the worst. Legends tell her body will never grow old or weak, legends say she was longing for the loving touch of another, legends say she cannot learn, speak or understand any human language, legends say, that though she was sealed away long ago by the dragon. a hero and a sage they were unsuccessful in destroying her flesh. Legends say that her body is that of a silver haired half elf."

'Wait a minute.. Satella?.. Silver haired half elf? But why would Emilia day that?'

Memories of Emilia in the capital flashed through his mind as he remembered what she called herself and what she was. Is that what she meant by he didn't run away? That he wasn't scared of her and didn't hate her?. He should ask her later. But suddenly it clicked, Emilia probably just wanted Subaru not to be burdened to help her anymore when he asked for her name. Being named Satella would've gotten the normal average person away. Luckily, Subaru is far from normal. He smiled, but quickly he got worried as the situation dawned on him.

"But then.. Why would I smell like this woman?"

"Only mabeast and people who worship the witch like the witch cultists would smell of her and be able to smell her, so either you work or are affiliated with her, I suppose. Whether you realize it or not, somewhere, sometime, the witch or the witch cult has done something to you I suppose. "

".. There is no way that can be considered a good thing right? God, now I'm worried."

"There is nothing someone as weak as you could do about it. Now please let me handle this alone in peace, shoo, shoo."

She waved her hand away in a shooing motion when she said the last bit of that.

"Man, you couldn't be any meaner could you Betty?"

"I suppose not, now you are pushing Betty's temper. Leave the library or Betty will have to force you out herself I suppose."

"Right! Bye!"

Subaru turned to the door and left the library before he could be blasted out by the girls magic. He looked around the hallways of the mansion as he began walking. He thought a bit more, and, as he slowly realized the puzzle pieces fin ally clicked together to make the full image. The girl who brought him here, the girl who gave him his power, the girl who doesn't let him tell others about the gift she gave him and the girl that he smells of. Satella, the worst of the worst, the witch of Envy was the one who put him through this hell. But for now, he had more important things to dwell on than thinking about a girl who's obsessed with him. He reached the bathing rooms and grabbed a broom as he looked at the bathroom and a smile stretched across his face.

"Alright, let's make the most of this!"

Afternoon

Subaru had now had about 20 ish minutes of free time to do whatever he could while he waited for Rem to finish up with whatever she was doing. Until now their relationship was still at a stand still, but because of Ram he has a good starting point now. He was outside, in the gardens holding a sizable stick he had found on the ground just lying around.

'Alright, plan is, get a sword from the villagers before going in the forest. Until then, train with this stick I found... yeah right! As if this things gonna make a difference.. Better than nothing though.'

Subaru had placed the potato on top of the railing of the gazebo that he saw Emilia sitting on once. Not in this life, though. And so Subaru swung at the potato, and the potato went flying away off into the distance. In several pieces too.

"Alright.. Maybe we train something else-"

With a good throw he sent the stick flying back over to where he got it from. Now with ample time wasted he turned to a different thing to train. He lifted his hand up and once again imagined his gate, he closed his eyes, took in one deep breath before shouting.

"El solux!"

Unfortunately, to Subaru's dismay, nothing happened.

'Right- Maybe I should just try using multiple soluxes'

Subaru did the same preparation as before, he closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, stuck his arm out before shouting the incantation.

"Solux! Solux! Solux!"

Subaru felt as though something was literally being shot out from his hands as three little balls of floating light appeared in the palm of his hands. Though he felt a bit light-headed due to it. He stumbled back and placed a hand on the gazebo railing behind him to support himself.

'Guess this is bound to happen.. is that really my limit?! Maybe it's just cause I've never done magic before, well, except the first time.'

Suddenly Subaru heard clapping, he looked over, and he saw Emilia and Puck standing a few meters in front of him. They were both smiling as they walked over to him.

"Good job! I don't think I've ever met someone who was accepted by yang magic before!"

"T-thanks Emilia- But I don't really think that's anything impressive.. I only cast 3 solux spells and I'm already light-headed, nothing like you!"

"Don't look down on yourself like that, everyone starts somewhere with their magic right?"

"I suppose so.. Crap wait I gotta go help Rem cook!"

"Subaru!"

Subaru side stepped and watched as Puck face planted into the gazebo. He snickered and slowly began walking backwards to the mansion still facing Puck and Emilia.

"You don't have to thank me for saving Emilia!"

He waves goodbye with a smile and runs into the mansion again, before long he made it to the kitchen. He kind of abruptly burst in, so when he saw Rem staring at him once he was inside it was expected. He went to place his hand on the back of his head to apologize but as he placed it against his hand he felt something boiling. He jolted his hand back in front of his face to see the three light orbs still there.

"Ah! God that nearly burnt me!"

Rem gave Subaru a curious look, she stood back up when she got the pot out from the bottom drawer. She was still looking at Subaru.

"Sorry! I was practicing my own magic and nearly got here late.. now if only I knew how to get rid of this."

Subaru waved his hand around until the orbs floated off the palm of his hand and gently fell to the floor, once it touched the floor the orbs of light phased out and seemingly looked like it turned into dust.

"..You are a yang user?.."

"Yup! Though I'm really not that good at it! I'm doing my best to practice and train to be better, you never know when you'll need magic!"

Rem nodded in agreement as she turned the stove on and began boiling a pot of water. Subaru wasn't to sure of what to do, but he remembered what Rem had cooked last time, not that he could ever forget anything she had cooked. Her food really is a godsend. So Subaru stood next to her and just helped her out with whatever.

Cooking had gotten pretty intense! Though the two of them made a pretty good team since Subaru had become a pretty good cook in the time he's been here. As Subaru minced some onions he decided to speak to Rem.

"Hey.. yknow last night? I know what you did."

She looked over at him worriedly, not that she had anything to be worried about. She hadn't done anything bad.

"Thanks for healing my hands, it means a lot. I swear just grabbing stuff strained my entire hand yesterday!"

He picked the cutting board up and put the onions into a pan of whatever other vegetables Rem had prepared. He continued dicing and slicing vegetables.

"Oh.. You don't need to thank Rem, Rem was very impolite and mean yesterday.. Rem just wants to make up for how she acted yesterday, so Rem deeply apologies."

"Hey focus more on cooking and less on apologizing for stuff you don't need to apologize for! I've no problem with what you did yesterday, you were just distrusting of someone new and suspicious, I don't really mind at all!"

Subaru began stirring some pots and pans. Rem fell quiet, though Subaru still saw her occasionally look at him. He cooked and helped her out with a smile, he wouldn't be losing this life like he did last time. He couldn't fail Rem again, or Emilia, or Ram.

"So whaddya think of my knife skills so far? I'm pretty good don't you think?"

He said trying his best to show off, he flipped the knife up in the air and spun it around while grabbing the handle. It was actually pretty impressive.

'Now if only my magic was as good as my knife skills.'

"You seem to have completely changed, Subaru.. When you were first here, you didn't seem any better than a child who hadn't worked a day in their life."

"Ow, you really know where to hit where it hurts Rem"

'Not that it hurts after the third time.'

"Oh, Rem apolo-"

"Oh come on! You gotta drop apologizing so much Rem, you didn't do anything. We're friends and this is just what friends sometimes do it's completely understandable! Now we should focus on cooking before I burn myself-"

Rem fell silent again and focused on cooking as Subaru said. However, as Subaru glanced over he once again could see her smiling which filled him with copious amount of motivation.

'That smile really is worth the world!'

The two had successfully cooked the food to perfection. Subaru was looking at the food they had made in awe, and he turned to Rem with a large smile.

"This looks great! I almost can't believe we did so well together! But I have to admit this food probably wouldn't even look half as good if I didn't have you helping me haha-"

"Do not undermine yourself Subaru, you have done well too."

"Great! Well we should probably get this to Roswaal and Emilia!"

"Lord Roswaal and Lady Emilia."

"Right- Let's get this to Lord Roswaal and Lady Emilia."

Rem and Subaru nodded in unison as Subaru grabbed the food and Rem opened the door for him. The two of them walked through the hallways, and he saw the gardens from a window, and he had more time than yesterday.

"Hey Rem, how come you do most the work around here? I hear so much praise about Ram n all, and though she's a great friend she doesn't really do much of the work or well at that. You on the other hand always do things exceptionally well and do more than her, why aren't you praised?"

"... Big sis will always be better, Rem simply has to make up for her short comings.."

".. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so mean about it. But I really do think you always do an exceptional job at everything you do, you're like the ideal role model for me almost. I almost get jealous at how great you are at times, I think you deserve praise too."

'Hope I didn't strike a nerve there. But it really does make me kinda annoyed that Rem never gets praised and Ram gets praised for the smallest of things... she isn't talking.'

"Rem will take note of what you said today, Subaru.."

"Right."

The walk to the end of the hall and to the doors was quiet. Subaru had worry and dread swelling up in his chest with each step he took alongside Rem. As if he had massively fucked up, but as they reached the end and Rem grabbed the door handle to the door to the dining room she looked at Subaru with a smile.

".. Thank you, Subaru."

And with that every single ounce of worry or negative emotion flooded out from Subarus body like a dam being broken. He smiled and walked inside, he placed the plates of food onto the table and waved to Emilia with a smile. He then headed over to where he was meant to stand at while he waited for the two to finish their food.

Evening

It was the beginning of Evening as Subaru stood outside, he had continued training his magic by casting Soluxes whenever he could. He could now do four Soluxes without even feeling light-headed! Six and he does get light-headed and anymore he gets a headache which isn't very preferable. He was outside, and he had five floating balls of light in his palms. He could feel the heat on his hand from the magic.

"I should probably find Rem and go to the village by now.."

Subaru shook his hands and the balls of light fell from his hand, the second they touched the ground they dissipated into a dust and blew away in the wind. He then looked behind him, so he could go inside the mansion and find Rem, but before he even began walking he saw Rem at the entrance to the mansion. She had been watching him? For how long? He had actually been intending on talking to Emilia here, but she wasn't outside this time, so he just used more of his mana. He wondered what he had done to attract her attention. Though of course, Rem had always during the early beginning of their relationship watched him. Whether it be curiosity or something worse he didn't want to think about. Subaru waved to Rem and walked over to her.

"Rem! Hey, just the maid I was looking for. I noticed while cooking in the kitchen that we were running out of ingredients. Let's go restock at the village."

"Hm.. You are right, but Rem should ask big sis first."

"That is a good idea, but I don't really think she would object to us going out either way. Plus we don't have much time, if we don't go now it'll be night by the time we're back!"

".. No, Rem must ask big sis first. It could be dangerous if we went without telling anyone first."

"Oh. Yknow that actually is a good idea. I'll just uh, wait here while you find her alright?"

Rem nodded and went back into the mansion. About 5 or so minutes later she returned to Subaru and the two of them began walking to the village again. Subaru hoped there would be an easier way than just letting everything play out again. But he can't just kill that puppy with everyone around, or he'll be seen as a crazy bastard. And he couldn't risk the timeline changing again, if he just let's everything play out again it might not be the same thing and new things would mean a bugger chance at failing again, which he couldn't risk.

"So, what do you think of Lord Roswaal Rem?"

"Rem would give her life for Lord Roswaal. Lord Roswaal saved big sis, and is keeping her alive.. Rem may not like Roswaal as much as her, but he is what keeps big sis alive.."

"Oh, alright. But well, what do you mean by Lord Roswaal keeps Ram alive?"

"...She can't make her own mana, so Lord Roswaal gives her his own to keep her alive."

"I see, but, if you dont mind me asking, why is it that she can't make her own ma-"

"Rem believes you should ask her yourself."

"That's a good idea but it's just.. I'm afraid we might not.. have much time left.."

"What was that Subaru? Rem couldn't hear you."

"Oh hey what's that, look we made it the village is right there!"

"Yes, let us start."

The two of them walked in, Subaru still hadn't had any training from Ram since the first session the two had. So all he could read were basic letters and that was it. Just a few glyphs.

"Heh uh, Rem, there is a problem that I've just realized I have."

"Yes?"

"I can't really uh... read this language, where I come from we speak the same, but we don't write the same.. so uh, I have no idea what anything says."

"Ah, Rem sees.. Maybe you can ask big sis to help you?"

"Yeah I was thinking about doing that too, I think I'll ask Ram after we get back to the mansion. Well, Rem you can just go and buy everything. Meet me back at the middle of the town and I'll carry everything back alright? Don't worry, I'm not gonna run off or anything of the sort!"

"Hm.. Alright, Rem trusts you Subaru. Rem will come soon."

Subaru nodded to Rem and watched as she walked away into the market of the village. He had 88 silver coins left from what.. Elsa had given him when he was in the capital.

'Gosh, this is definitely some sort of blood money.'

He had to find a black Smith or some guy who sells swords. Maybe some big bury bearded old guy. Subaru began walking around the different areas, he had a bit of time until he got ambushed by the creatures of the night (little kids).

'This would be easier if I could read.. Maybe I should've followed Rem around, so she could tell me where to go. Maaaaaan, oh well let me ask some random guy.'

Subaru walked up to a random resident of the village, they were just minding their business not doing anything before Subaru came to them.

"Hey there man, you know where I could get me a sword?"

"Huh? Oh yeah sure thing man... do you work for the Mansion up the hill there?"

"Yeah! Recruit too, I've only been here for two days including today haha."

"Well mate hope it's not too hard. Those maids are weird I'll tell you that much."

"Yeah uh, alright. Just take me to where I can get a sword man."

"Oh yeah right after me mate."

The villager signaled for Subaru to follow him and Subaru did as requested. He was intending to make small talk with this guy, but he thought otherwise.

"Didn't happen to catch your name."

"Oh, right, I'm Natsuki Subaru. I'm completely new to this place and I only recently know a few people since I work at the Mathers mansion now."

"Nice to meet you Subaru! Name's Alvin, born and raised here. I've been to the capital a few times in my life and woah mate! The place is a beauty! So many people of so many types! There were so many beautiful places to go too, really expensive though haha. Some guy tried to sell me an appa for 2 silver coins, isn't that ridiculous?"

"Ridiculous?... How much does a normal appa cost?"

"Like 50 bronze coins! Well least that's what the fruit merchants here sell em for."

"Well did you try the fruit? Maybe it tasted better than the ones here."

"What do you think I am crazy? I am not gonna be burning away my money for an appa."

"I guess that's fair, but you never know right? Might be the best appa you'll ever try."

"Eh, I'd rather be curious than waste my money on an appa that costs the price of four. Anyways it was nice meeting ya Subaru, here's the black Smith. See you around!"

Subaru and nodded with a wave as he watched Alvy walk back to where Subaru met him. Subaru turned to the shop, and it was a blacksmith alright. Subaru walked inside and looked around. Various swords, bows, arrows all weapons of the sorts were hung on the walls. He looked over to the counter and there sat some guy on a chair completely knocked out asleep. Subaru awkwardly walked over to the counter and stared at him.

"Hey man, uh, can I have a sword?"

"Wha- Oh- Sorry I was asleep. A sword yeah?"

"Mhm, preferably the best you've got, as sharp and durable as possible."

"That'll fetch a heft price don't you think?"

"I have enough money."

"Fifty silver."

Subaru took out his bag and counted fifty silver coins and slid them over across the counter. The guy looked at the coins and shrugged.

"That's probably fifty, I'll go get my best creation yet for you. Thanks, I'll need me myself that money. Being a blacksmith in this boring village ain't doing me wonders."

He probably wasn't wrong. The people of this town were more interesting than he had assumed them to originally be.

'Nothing like NPCs... Gotta stop thinking people aren't real.'

Soon enough the man returned with a pretty cool looking sword and handed it over to Subaru.

"Now don't go doing illegal things with this boy, you can pack a real big punch with this thing. The Sharpest sword in Irlam village."

"Oh, awesome! Thank you sir! I'll only ever use this thing for the greater good and self defense, promise."

"Great, now get out of my smithy boy."

Subaru nodded and waved goodbye as he exited the smithy and looked at his sword in awe. He hoisted it on his pants and looked around, kids were already following him by now.

'Well, time to do all of this again!'

Rem returned to Subaru surrounded by people, he was doing some sort of stretching with everyone in unison. For some reason, as she watched Subaru surrounded by people smiling and laughing with him she felt at ease. She held onto the two bags until Subaru finished helping everyone out. Subaru happily waved goodbye to everyone and looked over at Rem. He smiled widely and waved to her as he walked over to her, Rem was smiling.

"Hey Rem! Sorry I had you waiting, here let me get those off your hands." He said as he quickly grabbed the bags of whatever groceries off of her.

"Yes.. You seem to have an affinity with people Subaru."

"I dunno what you're talking about haha- I just did some stretches with the town and everyone like doing it. Nothing special about me!"

"Yes but Subaru the people wa-"

"Subaru!"

Subaru turned around, it was Meili, the misguided kid bearing a monster. Subaru wanted so bad to just slice that puppy in half, but what mist be done must be done. He can't afford for there to be even less things he was ready for.

"Look! Isn't she just the cutest? Please don't tell our parents, or they'll get mad at me."

"Hah, why would I say a thing? Aren't you just the cutest!"

He said putting on a smile as he pet the top of the puppy's head, before it suddenly opened its mouth and chomped down on Subaru's hand. Subaru recoiled and took a step back as he held the wrist of the hand he got bit on in pain.

"Ow! Bad puppy! Bad!"

Meili snickered and ran away before she got any punishment from Subaru, not that he would do anything in the first place. He turned to Rem who just like last time had the same look of worry on her face. He smiled, for some reason he felt happy seeing her worried like this. Maybe because it was worry about him.

"Subaru! Is your hand alright?"

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks. It does sting a little but it's just bleeding really."

"Please, let Rem heal it for you."

"Hm? Oh.. Sure thing! Thanks."

He said as he offered his hand to her, she grabbed the area where he was bitten and was still bleeding. A shining blue sphere of light appeared over her hand as she said the same incantation as before. Subaru then returned his hand to the bottom of the bags to carry them as he smiled.

"Thanks, it's all better now! We should get going right? Oh wait! My sword, it's right over there on that bench. Could you hoist it on my pants?"

"Subaru you bought a sword?"

"Mhm! Since you two would protect the mansion with your lives I wanted to at least have my life help a little too."

"Ah.. Alright!"

Rem walked over to the sword and grabbed it, before walking back over to Subaru and hoisting it on his hip as requested before. The two nodded together before making their way to the mansion.

"Hey Rem?"

"Yes?"

"I'm pretty sure that that dog cursed me."

"What? What do you mean?"

"It's a mabeast isn't it? That's why Meili didn't want me to tell anyone and why her parents would get angry... and, if it bit me it definitely bit the kids too. Let's head back to the mansion and get your sister to dispel my curse. Then we can go back and save the kids."

"Oh.. But, why must we save the kids?"

"Why? I want them to live! Plus, if they died it could lead to various bad things happening around us!"

"Such as?"

"The village could start blaming us and then even more hate would come to Emilia.. You know how it is with people and half elves.. I don't want it to be any harder than it already has to be for her. And those kids matter a lot to me too alright? They told me their wishes for the future, their stories, and we promised to do the same thing we did today tomorrow! A man can't just go back on his word can he?"

Rem looked like she was deep in thought, as the two walked and it got quieter Subaru felt worried. He didn't know if he had gained enough of Rem's trust to do this yet, but he hoped that he would be able to convince her at least if even a little.

".. Rem trusts you, Subaru. So you can't lie to Rem okay?"

"I promise on my soul that I will never lie to you!.. Not like I've lied up until now. Anyways! Let's start going come on Rem, I still have a terrible feeling about all of this."

Rem nodded and the two picked up the pace as they went to the mansion. There was a lot to say and explain in a short amount of time to Ram and Emilia. But he would manage, he had to. As the two made it to the mansion they saw Roswaal in the air flying away.

'W-wait what?! No! That's not meant to happen! I need Roswaal to be here he's a powerful magic user! He stayed here last time so why the hells he leaving this time!?.. this just can't be easy for me huh?'

As the two arrived Ram looked at Rem and Subaru with a bit of confusion due to the worry on Subarus face.

"Hm? What's wrong Barusu?"

"We need to protect the mansion right?"

"You are correct in that assumption, a rare sight. I might even applaud yo-"

"Not the time! The town is in danger and I need to protect those that are in danger! In a nut shell the towns kids have all been cursed by a shaman and I need you to help me save them! Rem already wants to help so it's no problem right?"

"Hm. I would help but who would remain to protect the mansion?"

"I.. I don't know, but you're the only one aside from Beatrice that can dispel curses."

Rem stepped in front of Subaru and grabbed Rams hands.

"Big sis, dispel Subarus curse. Rem will go with Subaru, once you have assured the safety of the mansion hurry to the village. Rem has put her trust in Subaru, and Subaru has done the same to her. So please big sis, believe us."

Ram sighed and smiled as she pat Rems head. She didn't seem as serious as she did before.

"Well, if Barusu has you that riled up then I suppose I can make an exception. Now then, remember to protect Subaru as he cannot do anything by himself. I will be there as soon as she can, now let me heal dispel that curse."

"Awesome, thanks ag- Hey! I can protect myself just fine alright?"

Ram snickered as she broke the spell before looking at Subaru. "Seriously, stay safe Subaru."

"H u h ? Oh.. Uh, yeah. Come soon, let's go Rem!"

Rem nodded and the two ran to the village, now all Subaru has in his side is hope and determination. Rem too, of course.

"Rem, do you have any way of actually protecting us?"

"Of course, Rem wouldn't throw herself in harms way without knowing how to defend herself."

"Alright good, cause all I've got are a few light balls and a sword so it's good to know I have someone strong on my side!"

"Big sis told Rem to protect you. And Rem intends to do that!"

Subaru smiled, this was what he was working towards. To keep her alive so that she could smile another day, so that he could see that smile again. Before the two knew it they were at the village, Subaru saw Alvy running around with a torch. He ran over to him.

"Subaru! Seen the kids anywhere?! They've been missing!"

"I know where they went! There's a hole in the barrier, and they went into the forest! It's by that fence over there! Get everyone and meet us up there, we're going in first!"

Subaru ran but before he could he was grabbed by Alvy, he turned around.

"Hey man, it's really dangerous out there. Do me a favor and don't fucking die alright?"

"Oh, yeah of course! Go get everyone alright?"

The two nodded and Subaru ran to the fence, he noticed Rem suddenly had a rather powerful looking ball and chain in her hands.

"Holy! Where, where did you even keep that?!"

"A lady has her secrets Subaru. Just like you"

"R-right-"

The two went into the forest, Subaru ran in the general direction he had gone with Ram last time... like hell! He has no damn idea where he's going! Who remembers the path they went in some random forest?!

'Ram had some way of seeing the kids, what about Rem?'

"Re-"

Subaru was cut off short by seeing Rem sniffing the air like a search dog would, he was a bit bewildered at the sight. But suddenly she pointed in front of them.

"Subaru! Rem smells something coming, watch out!"

"Gotcha!"

Subaru unsheathed his sword and got into a stance as he waited for the mabeast to come into view. And before long three mabeast were already leaping at them! Subaru swung his sword, and he sliced halfway into the neck of the wolgram that was going for him, it hit the ground and slid a bit.

"Oh my god! I just did that! Haha!"

Subaru looked over at Rem, she was already gone killing the other two. He looked in terror at the mangled corpses of the wolgrams, one bludgeoned into the side of another.

"Man, you really are good with that thing!"

"Rem's duty is to protect you, and that is what she will do."

"That's kinda scary Rem, but reassuring at the same time! Crap, we gotta find the kids come on!"

Rem nodded and followed Subaru as they eventually managed to find the very same clearing. Subaru ran up the hill and looked at the kids, he counted them and just like last time Meili was gone.

"Thank god! Rem, can you do anything about the kids?"

"Rem is afraid she can't, but she can make it so that they feel less pain."

"Alright, problem though. One of the kids are gone and I have to find th-"

"Subaru, you can't do that, Rem can't go with you. And it is dangerous out there."

"I understand that, but I can't break a promise. Just like I wouldn't break our promise I wouldn't break the promise that I'd do radio calisthenics with the kids tomorrow, all of them."

"..But, what if you are hurt Subaru? How would Rem find yo-"

"I noticed already but.. You can smell the witches scent, can't you? That's why you could smell the mabeast coming."

Rem seemed a little shocked and worried as she looked at Subaru.

"I'm sure you've noticed, even if it's not a lot it lingers with me. The witches scent. Trust me, I've nothing to do with witch cultists or the witch. The Least nothing I'm aware of, but if I need help, I'll make sure you can find me by the scent. Alright?"

".. Of course, but.. please Subaru, be careful."

"Here, I'll make you a promise that I'll wall out of this in one piece. Is that reassuring?"

"Yes, please, don't break your promise Subaru."

"I would never break a promise. I've gotta go now, find me the second the villagers are up here okay?"

"Rem promises."

He nodded with a smile as he ran into the forest again, he could feel the hungry eyes watching him closely from the shadows of the forest. But he had a general idea of where he was meant to go, and before long he had made it to the same clearing with Meili.

".. Right, it's time to do this."

Subaru ran over to Meili's side and unsheathed his sword, he looked around him and already a wolgram was running at him, probably the same one he stabbed in the neck last time. Subaru readied his sword and as it lunged to bite him he stabbed through its neck like last time as he got the sword out from its neck.

'My veins are surging with adrenaline!'

Subaru picked Meili up and swung her over his shoulder as he ran through the forest. He wouldn't start going back quite yet otherwise Ram wouldn't be able to finish dispelling the curses. He could both hear and feel the wolgrams behind him.

'Crap, it's getting really dark.'

Subaru pointed his hand out and cast Solux twice, so he could see well. He continued running as fast as he could, but he would eventually be out run as he did last time. So as he heard one getting close he'd turned around and slice behind him, luckily he stabbed it rights in the side. He got his sword out of its side and kicked it in the head before slice its head off the neck and continuing fleeing.

'I'm so fucking awesome! This is what it feels like to be the main character hahaha!'

It was going well so far but it was time to get back to Ram, she should definitely be done by now. He changed directions and ran straight to where he remembered coming from, he looked behind him as he saw the dogs continuing to chase him through hell and all. Subaru wondered how Emilia and Rem were doing back at the mansion.. he hoped he would be able to see them again.

'No! You have to stay determined!'

Subaru continued to run through the forest until he would make it to the clearing. But even after a minute of running he had no sight of it..

'Fuck! I must've gotten lost somewhere! My legs are in agony how am I gonna deal with this?! I gotta stall for time I can't run any longer.'

Subaru turned around and looked, it was an entire pack of the things, and they were gaining quickly. Subaru put Meili down against a tree next to him before looking back, the dogs were standing about a meters distance away from him growling. A few of them were looking at Meili as well.

'Crap.. Can't be protecting Meili and myself.. Betty said these things could smell the witches scent right?... Guess I have to meet her again.'

"Alright! You lousy nosed mutts wanna kill me?! Well then, you'd best be warned that I've already died-"

Everything went black again. A thick purplish mist rolled into Subaru's sight. He couldn't move just like last time, meeting this obsessive woman that he knows next to nothing of isn't something he enjoys doing. Subaru couldn't even really think as he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder and someone else's body pressing against his back. He felt two arms wrapping around his neck as that same someone laid their head down on the top of his. If Subaru even could move he'd be petrified like a rock at the very moment. Every second felt like a thousand years as he heard a voice.

"... Subaru..haven't you understood?... Our secret...my gift to you..it is between us.. You wouldn't go sharing our love to others would you?.. Maybe you would understand if I punished you dear..."

Subaru felt two cold hands creepy over to his neck, the feeling of her fingers trailing his skin was like a thousand needles were stabbing into him every second. He felt her gently grab his neck and hold it gently. Before long he felt something reach down from his throat to his heart, gently wrapping its hand around his heart before crushing it. Subaru felt pain along his entire body, it felt like he was dying again and again for each second that his heart was clamped down by the hand of the witch. But as soon as it all started it all disappeared. Subaru was back in the real world, the weight on his shoulders were gone, and he didn't feel any pain. He choked on nothing as he breathed, but as he looked in front of himself he saw the dogs had been riled up. They growled even louder and were drooling from their maws. Subaru wiped a bit of spit from his mouth as he looked at them.

"Come at me then! Come and die!"

Subaru ran the Wolgrams, and they did the same, he swung sideways at the closest one ripping open the side of its stomach as he kicked another on the head sending it into a tree. Another round of Wolgrams came charging in. Subaru took a step back but before he knew it one of the wolgrams was right in his face. He put the side of his arm in front of his chest as he watched it clamps down its teeth around it, it hurt like hell thats for sure.

"MY ARM!"

Great stabbed it in its back making it release its jaws before Subaru swung his sword our from it and directly into another wolgram which had lunged at him, he stabbed it in the side of its face. More were still coming, and Subaru wasn't feeling any more energetic than he did a minute ago.

'They just keep coming! Why the hell are there so many of these damned hell hounds?!'

Subaru's left sleeve was soaked with blood from the bite the last wolgram gave him. His stamina was already low when he started this and it's been depleting drastically every second. Subaru started again with an upward slice into the middle wolgrams head slicing its head into two segments as he looked at the other two, it was a bit late as he got tackled by the right one. It clamped its jaws down on his shoulder as blood splattered everywhere. Subaru now filled with enough adrenaline to fill a bathtub punched it in its side knocking it off him. He got up and kicked it in the stomach, he turned to the side as he swung at the other wolgram slicing into its leg. He turned his focus to the wolgram he had just knocked off himself, he stabbed it through the head as it whimpered on the floor before finishing off the other one.

"GOD"

Subaru fell to his knees, he was completely drained and exhausted as breathed sharply. His lungs felt like exploding, he fell face-first into the ground.

'Get up! Get up! Get up! You're gonna die here on the floor! Come on! That couldn't all of just been for nothing! Get back up!'

But.. he couldn't. It hurt just to breathe and his arms and legs felt like they were about to fall off or crumble into dust. He heard more mabeast approaching. He saw red eyes from the darkness... he almost felt like laughing. Subaru closes his eyes as they all jumped on him, the same exact fate as last time.

"I failed agai-"

Suddenly Subaru was grabbed and yanked out of the pool of wolgrams. He was on someone's shoulder as he saw the ground move, or well, more like him be carried away. He still held on tight to his sword as he saw the wolgrams running at him, but they weren't gaining on them. Soon enough, he would be put down against a tree. It was Rem, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

"Subaru! Are you alright?! I smiled the witches scent heavily from here and I ran as fast as I could!"

"Better than I'll ever be.." As if on cue he coughed up blood the second he finished that sentence.

"Enough about me! W-wheres Meili?"

Rem turned Subarus head to the side, and he saw Meili unconscious against the very same tree. He sighed out of relief before getting up, he was bleeding from his arms and legs, but he would survive it. He tried to pick Meili up and Rem gently shoved him aside and picked her up herself.

"The village is in sight, you don't have to work so hard anymore Subaru."

"Oh.. are you sure?.."

"Absolutely, let's go Subaru."

Subaru nodded, and they began going to the exit, not full on running or sprinting but faster than walking. But right as they got close to the fence they saw another pack of wolfram, alongside that very same bastard puppy that started all of this.

"Rem! We can't afford to fight.. Just, just run past them alright?"

Rem nodded as the both of them began running, but, Subaru noticed something. The puppy seemingly glowed and spots on the ground glowed before shooting upwards with rock.. and it was going straight for Rem and Meili. Without sparing a single other thought he immediately shoved Rem away as he got gut punched by a pillar of rock before being launched upwards. As Subaru still had a bit of consciousness in the air he thought to himself.

'.. Did I fail again?.. No.. I saved Rem and Meili.. Even if I die, at least.. at least they get to continue living on..'

Subaru began dropping down, he fell into a tree and immediately everything went black.

Morning

Subaru woke up in bed. His entire body felt sore. He looked at the ceiling, but...

"I don't recognize that ceiling"

Subaru lifted his upper body up, it hurt like hell. He looked around the room, Emilia was sat on a chair asleep.

'.. Was she watching over me?'

Subaru realized that he hadn't started over, and that he was in fact still alive. He was happy, as happy as he could have ever been in his life. He wanted to hug Emilia, he wanted to hug Rem! But Emilia was asleep and Rem was nowhere in sight. Subaru got up but suddenly he felt something bump into his shoulder, he looked over at it was Puck.

"Good morning Subaru, you had as all worries for a while you know."

".. Oh.. Thanks for caring about me. Tell Emilia thanks for me won't you?"

"Of course, she spent the entire day worrying right next to you. She deserves a little rest. We had Beatrice heal your wounds, speaking of, you should probably go talk to her."

"Huh, why?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's something important she has to say."

"Alright then, thanks again."

"Yeah, your swords on the chair by the door."

Subaru nodded and walked over, grabbing his sword and hoisting it on his hip before he walked out of the house. It was day, and he looked around before seeing Ram holding a basket of steamed potatoes. When she saw Subaru she smiled and walked over.

"There you are, you finally chose to wake up huh Barusu?"

"Yeah, sorry I was kinda almost killed."

"Hmph, excuses."

"Can I have one?"

"Steamed potato? Of course! It's my specialty I must say, steamed to perfection."

"Yeah right let me try one and I'll determine that."

"Oh yeah? You dare doubt my steaming capabilities?"

Ram grabbed one of the steamed potatoes out from the basket and shoved it into Subarus mouth. He coughed up most of the bite and held it in his hand.

"God! Ah! My mouth is on fire!.. But, unfortunately, it seems I was wrong. This thing really is perfect.."

"Hmph, serves you right. Never underestimate my capabilities."

"Anyways, where's Rem?"

"Hm? Oh, I was actually just looking for her. Care to join me?"

"Of course, but I have to find Beatrice first. Apparently it's important."

Ram shrugged "Alright. I know where she is so follow me."

He nodded and followed her as asked of. Soon enough they'd find Beatrice sitting alone at a table overlooking a large field of grass. Subaru walked over and she took notice.

"I suppose Puck sent you?"

"You're right, so, what's so important?"

"Unfortunately it seems you only have about a half days time to live. You've been cursed by too many wolgrams, it's like a tangled up mess I suppose. So strong now even I could dispel them. A wolgrams curse will replenish all of its victims mana dry after half a day."

"...oh..."

"Not quite the reaction I was expecting from a man with a day left to live, I suppose."

"No, I guess I've just gotten used to it.. Any chances of me being able to live?"

"I suppose the chances are so low Betty shouldn't even have to bother."

"Low or not, I'd still like to know."

"Well, seeing as how the only way for you to live would be killing all the mabeast so that there is no one to eat your mana."

"Ah.. I see how it's.. Can't really kill all the mabeast in that forest can I?"

"Exactly, that's why Betty hasn't told that silly girl about it. Otherwise, she would do something unreasonable I suppose."

"Heh, that kinda warms my heart a little. But I guess that's nothing but impossible, after all this time of trying my best not give up, guess now that's all there's lef-"

"So you'd just give up? Is there nothing else to do?!"

"I suppose your head must be hurting, it makes sense. But the rest is in your hands now, I suppose."

"...Natsuki Subaru... I swear, I will save you!"

"Rem! I know where Rem is!"

Subaru looked to Ram who had a depressed and worried looking look on her face before she got startled by Subaru.

"Rem must've gone to the forest hasn't she?"

"Mhm."

"Why didn't you stop her?!"

"I simply couldn't, I suppose."

"Crap, crap, crap! Ram, we gotta save her! You can use that power of yours to find her can't you?"

"Of course I would, I would do anything to Dave my sister."

"You two do realize what will happen if you go to retrieve the younger maid?"

"I don't really care if I throw my life on the line anymore, Rem already has, so I'd rather go through hell to pay her back than give up. So even if I die I'd rather die in a world where I'm the only one who has to be in pain, I'm seeing this story down to its finale!"

Subaru and Ram were back in the forest, they were walking through it look for Rem or any trace of mabeasts as Ram used her clairvoyance to look for her. Subaru remembered being pulled to the side by Alvy.

"You're going back in?! You nearly died last time!"

"I have something important to do in there, Rem saved me and I'm going to save her!"

"Jeez man, all of this for a girl? You're worse than me! Whatever, have these, I was gonna use them for training but I think you'll need it more than me. They give you a mana boost, and seriously, don't die you idiot."

Alvy manages to be mean and nice at the same time and Subaru has no idea how he does it, but he's just accepted it at this point.

"I felt so sore when I got out of bed today, but I'm actually feeling much better already. I don't really have any idea but hey it's something ain't it?"

"I suppose so, but with such a speech you made back there I should really be expecting more."

"Hey! I live up to my words I can promise you of that.. But.. More importantly, any signs of Rem? I'm getting kind of worried."

"... No, nothing yet.. if only I could be there, though, she's probably in her demon state."

"Demon state?"

"Demon state is when a demon's horns awakens its instincts, it heightens combat ability while devouring mana. Though it could have devastating backlash. I do not want to see Rem like that."

".. Wait, you two are demons?"

"Yes, though I for one am hornless."

"Oh.. that makes much more sense now that I think about it."

"But.. We aren't any ordinary demons, Rem and I are twins. We should have been killed upon birth due to each of use having one horn but due to my magical capabilities we were spared. Of course, I am weaker than her due to being hornless but that doesn't make me not want to be there. I can still be just as strong as her in her demon state, and I am the older sister, I need to bear that title with responsibility."

"Ah.. I see how it is. I'm weak too, so weak that I pale in comparison to either of you, but I'd still want to be there to save Rem. That's why I'm here after all.. But it seems we aren't having much luck in finding her."

"I still haven't seen her using my clairvoyance yet.. I hope we can find her soon."

"Actually, I know of a way to lead them here. Hey Ram, did you know that this is my fourth li-"

Everything went black again, Subaru had actually gotten used to this. But this time it was different, he could breathe, he could move and think properly. The purple mist crawled into view as he once again felt that same feeling of another person's body pressed against his back. However this time he was in a deep embrace, being hugged from behind. He tried to look behind him, but he felt someone lay their head down against his neck.

".. What did we talk about Subaru?... Did you forget... you can't tell anyone else about our little secret, our love Subaru... why don't you explain yourself?.."

"W-well I- I didn't- I didn't mean to I was just trying to- to-"

"To what my love?.. I know, you wanted to feel my embrace again didn't you? Oh Subaru, hehe~ Every time I see you my heart beats faster, when I hear your voice it's like music to my ears.. Felling your skin sends ripples through my body, if you were just calling me.. I'll let it slide.. Until next time Subaru... I love you"

Subaru would genuinely much rather just have her scream I love you to him than this but well at least it doesn't hurt right? Everything went back to normal and the witch was gone.

"H-Hey, Barusu, what did you just do?! I feel a ton of animals coming right for us!"

"I told you I could make them come, I have a special way of making myself reek of the witches scent. And the witches scent attracts mabeasts,and if Rem is trying to kill mabeasts it'll bring her. Essentially, I'm the bait and Rems the fish! Just get ready alright? We're gonna be up for one hell of a fight!"

"Are you sure we can even handle that many mabeast at once?"

"I genuinely have no idea! We're just winging it basically!"

"When we're done with this I'm gonna make you think about what you just said until it's the only thing you can think about!"

A bunch if wolgrams had already appeared, and the two began attacking them. Ram dealt with the majority and Subaru dealt with those that went for him, it was going well until Ram started slowing down, Subaru noticed and was worried.

"Hey what's going on?! You can't be getting tired already there's still an entire horde coming our way!"

"It seems that I have ran out of energy, so I'll have to rely on yo-"

Subaru grabbed Ram by the cheek and shoved a bocco fruit down her throat before stepping away. Rams reaction was rather extreme, but she quickly recovered and looked at Subaru with a grumpy look.

"I am not trying to die today! You should actually be thanking m-"

"One more word and I'll cut your tongue off!"

"Right sorry-"

Three more wolgram were running right at them, and as Ram was about to cast another wind spell to cut them in half suddenly a ball and chain claimed into their sides and smashed them into a tree. The chain then straightened our before it was pulled out from the wolgram patty. It was Rem, with a bright pink glowing horn growing from her head.

"You weren't kidding! Thank god she's here! Let's get the hell out of here no-"

Suddenly Rem swung her morning star at Subaru, who just barely manages to roll out of the way.

"You can become a demon but you can't control it?! What kind of shitty super power trope is this?!"

"I told you didn't I?"

"Whatever! What's more important is stopping her!" Getting up from the ground Subaru kept his eye on Rem, she really looked insane, he understands now why Ram didn't want to see her like this.

"One good hit to the horn should knock her out of it, since that's where sh-" Ram watched Subaru nearly get decapitated by Rem, the morning star hitting a tree behind him. The tree fell down, nearly crushing Subaru in the process.

"Got it, hit her horn, and she's out!

Ram actually wasn't a 100% sure but it's the most likely answer. Another pack of wolgrams came into view, a much MUCH bigger pack with the shaman puppy from before as well. Subaru ran over to Ram as he watched Rem run at the wolgrams and absolutely despite them, flattening their schools cutting them in half ripping their heads in two from the jaws.

"I have an idea, she doesn't seem to be trying to kill you does she?"

"I don't think so."

"My idea is, you run at her and try to hold her still before I go to knock her out of it!"

"And what if she doesn't let me get close?"

"Well you want to be thrown at her instead?"

And so ten seconds later Subaru had picked Ram up by the waist, swung her around before throwing her right at Rem. Rem turned around seeing her sister in the air flying towards her, she let go of her weapon as she quickly scrambled to catch her.

'Nows my chance! Everything's gone perfectly so far! Focus! Hit the horn!'

As Subaru ran at Rem and looked at her, holding his sword high above his head he remembered everything that lead up to this very moment, all the pain, effort, smiles and deaths that made this happen. He wouldn't want to see Rem like this ever again. But before he could hit her horn he was launched up into the air, that damned shaman puppy had shot him up into the air before he reached them. But he still had an opening! He wouldn't even for a second let his eyes off Rem!

"Rem! Let's smile together!"

His sword smashed against her horn, and it was over. Subaru landed with a thud, but he got up as quick as he could, his back was in damn shambles, but he felt Rem fall into him. Seems like she's out cold, Subaru picked her up and before he could look at the mabeasts he was pulled away with Ram.

"No time to look back! Just run!"

"That's easier said than done after nearly breaking your spine! That damned dog!"

The two ran as fast as they could, and luckily they eventually manage to get away from the mabeasts. For now, at least. Subaru fell to his knees as he began sharply inhaling and exhaling.

"God! Everything hurts!"

Tears fell from Subarus eyes from the amount of strain he was putting on his lungs, hell, his entire body! Suddenly he felt a hand on his back.

"Mana of water... heal this damaged body.."

Subaru looked over, a faint blue light lit up his face as he saw Rem was healing him. But even so, she herself was crying with a look of complete defeat.

"I'm sorry... I.. I failed you.. Just like big si-"

"No!.. We made it back! The village is in sight we won Rem! You did great!"

"... No.. I dragged you two into this.. I.. I wanted to do this myself... so.. so that no one would feel any more pain.."

"... Are you stupid?! You idiot! Don't you realize everything is way harder when you're doing it by yourself? Two- Or well three in this case, heads are better than one! You should've told us, you should've never risked your life like this!... Rem, you don't deserve to bare all this pain alone, alright?"

"Subaru, I'm sorry to cut this short but the mabeast are approaching still! We could make it if we ran at full speed."

Subaru stood up, he smiled as he picked Rem up and placed her on Rams back to both of their confusion.

"Yeah right... I'll be right behind you okay? I'll stall for time and I'll be right in the village with the rest of you!"

"N-no! Subaru! We can't leave you he-"

But before Rem could even finish Ram had already began running. Rem reached out for Subaru who waved goodbye to them as the wolgram came into view.

"Subaru!"

'Fuck me man... Doesn't seem like there's any way out of this. At least there aren't many left..'

He looked at the middle of the pack, there it stood. The tiny shaman puppy that started all of this to begin with. He pointed his sword at it.

"Hey! This ends here you hear me? I'm gonna rip you in half!"

And just when he finished that sentence the little puppy began stretching its body out before it transformed into a giant version of the other wolgrams.

"... t. Of course, I have to fight the big bad boss at the end of the dungeon. You're nothing to be scared of! You're just a big dog!"

Subaru was trying his best at convincing himself that he could do this. He was back to mostly full power due to Rem healing him, he dug out the three bucco fruits that were left and gulped them down. He felt a shock through his entire body, like when Beatrice sucked his mana but the opposite I guess. He then felt super energized, there was nothing else left to do. Subaru watched as the boss wolgram lifted its leg up to crush him, Subaru quickly stabbed his sword upwards and right into its paw as it quickly roared out and removed its leg. Subaru pulled his sword out before a normal wolgram ran at him, he swung his sword from the side and slit a cut in its throat to its spine.

"Good God I'm already being overwhelmed!"

Subaru turned back to the boss wolgram who was swung its spiked club of a tail, Subaru hanged on to dear life and climbed up its body. He was breathing heavily as he had basically just been gut punched. He climbed up the boss wolgram as it continued roaring, thrashing about trying its best to get Subaru off of it.

"I beat shadow of the colossus on hard mode! I've learned a thing a two you oversized German shepherd!"

He made it to its neck, and he stabbed his sword down its neck as he hung on to it. The boss wolgram roared loud enough to shake the earth as it knocked itself against trees, crushing smaller wolgrams as it continued trying to get Subaru off its back in desperation. Subaru had a determined look on his face as he held one of his hands over its right eye.

"It's about time! EL SOLUX!"

As Subaru imagined the spell and let the collected mana from the bocco fruit release from his hand a giant blindingly bright flash of light shot out from Subaru directly into the boss wolgrams open eye. It again screamed out in pain as it pointed its head upwards tried to look away. Subaru took the opening as he grabbed the handle of his sword and pushed it deeper down its throat before using all of his might to slice it right out from the hole he had made in its neck.

Subaru finally stabbed it one last time right in the head and watched as it fell down limp and dead. Subaru fell off and landed on his back, didn't hurt as much as the other two times luckily. He sluggishly got back up and walked over to the boss wolgrams corpse, getting on its neck and grabbed his sword out from the top of his head. Holding it up high pointed at the sky.

"Natsuki Subaru, has WON!"

Subaru felt like he could fall over any minute now, but in the far distance he saw both Rem and Ram on the ground, Rem was watching him. Seems like they hadn't made it, but it's nothing to worry about. Subaru, soaked in blood mostly not of his own walked over to her as he sheathed his sword again. He made it to Rem and looked at her with a smile.

"We can finally say... its over."

Rem couldn't help but just cry. Of course, it wasn't tears of sadness. She was just happy, she hadn't felt this happy in a while. But suddenly, and rather abruptly, Subaru heard clapping as he saw Roswaal slowly hover down from the sky.

"My Subaru, color me impressed. You managed to deal with all of that on your ooooooown. I didn't even need to heeeeeelp."

"... What's your deal?..."

"Haha, noooooothing at all Subaru. Now, let's get everyone home why don't we? I'll deal with all the mabeasts when Ram is saaaaaafee. You shouldn't have to work any harder, should you?"

Subaru didn't feel like questioning his actions at the moment... But there was more to Roswaal, why would he have just watched him?.. Subaru picked Rem up and Roswaal picked Ram up.

"See yoooouuu at the mansion, Subaru."

He flew off. Subaru sighed and began walking, his entire body was in shambles. He looked at Rem, who couldn't even look him in the eyes.

"I- I'm sorry Subaru.. I, I couldn't ev-"

".. Shhhhhh... it's fine Rem.. You should sleep Rem, it'd be good for you."

Rem made a small quiet noise of acknowledgment as she slowly drifted off to sleep. As he neared the fence to the village he saw Emilia and Alvy, the two of them seemed to be arguing. As he got closer he could hear them.

"I'm sorry lady but you just can't! I'm sure Subaru's going to be back soon but if you go in there I can't guarantee your safety."

"No! He could be dying as we speak, why did you even let him go in?!"

Subaru stopped at the fence and looked at the two, they hadn't noticed him yet.

"Hey, it's not nice to talk about a dead man... Also, you'll wake Rem."

"Subaru!" They both shouted in Unison, Emilia looked like she was about to cry tears of joy just at the sight of him.

"Told you lady, he'd be back."

"Are you okay?! What happened?! You're covered in blood!"

"Shhh, Rem. I'm fine, this is mabeast blood. Let's just go to the mansion alright? I can explain everything there myself."

"Oh.. Yes alright."

"And Alvy, thanks for the bucco fruit.. that really was a life saver."

"Anytime man, get yourself home safe."

"I will, see ya."

"See ya."

And so Subaru moved over the fence and slowly began walking back to the mansion. It was quiet but not in a bad way, the feeling of safety was something Subaru hadn't felt for a while. But it was something he never knew he loved that much.

"Hey Emilia.. Thanks for worrying about me.. And, sorry for making you worry about me."

"How wouldn't I be worried?.. I thought you were really hurt since you hadn't been back for the entire day. The sun is setting Subaru.."

"Yeah.. My entire body feels like its falling apart... honestly just standing up hurts-"

"Subaru! What did you do?"

".. A lot of mabeast killing. I feel like my hearts about to just go pop! .. But I wouldn't let that happen. I still have to go to the village with you. A man has to keep his promises."

"Subaru if you're hurt you shouldn't even leave your bed, we don't have to go if you can't."

"I'll be just fine.. Nothing you should worry yourself with.."

And so they continued talking until they eventually reached the mansion. The two entered together and Subaru looked around.

"Hey uh.. where is Rems room?"

"Oh, just follow me."

Subaru nodded as he followed her, he just really wanted to lay down on his bed and fall asleep.

"Here Subaru, have a nice night alright?.. And please, don't go around getting hurt anymore."

"Hey.. It's not like I want to get hurt, the worlds just been harsh to me okay."

"Alright, good night Subaru."

"Goodnight."

Subaru opened the door to Rems room and walked inside, walking over to her bed and placing her down in her own bed. He tucked her in but then right before he could start leaving he felt a tug on his hand. He turned around and Rem had grabbed him, she looked at him with some sort of desperation.

"... Please...stay.."

"Of course."

He moved a chair over to her bed and sat down, watching over her as she held his hand for comfort. And so, the two of them eventually both fell asleep.

Morning

Rem had woken up in her bed, she looked to her side and saw Subaru looked down at her with a smile. Her hand was still tightly holding his. She got a bit nervous when she realized she was holding his hand.

"Good morning, you slept for quite a while."

"Did Rem keep you here for long?"

"No. it hasn't been that long."

"Oh.. Alright... Subaru.. I am sorry."

"Sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about, I'm fine after all... You okay?"

"I've always known that I was inferior to Ram... I was always an incompetent and weak demon.. I would never impress anyone because of my lack of power. Ram would always be better. I am nothing more than a lousy replacement for Ram" She looked away. ".. I'm the reason my sister had to have one horn... yet I was the one who got to keep my horn... why did I have to be Rams twin?.. Why did I have to be born... sorry I.. I shouldn't have said anything.."

".. You keep thinking of Ram as this grand person no one could love up to, while you keep degrading yourself. But I don't really think if the roles were reversed she would be able to do any better than you did. Ram slacks off on her job, she's mean, she can't cook, sew, trim or clean well, and she insults people a lot."

"N-no! If she had a horn you wouldn't say that! I-its not true!"

"But she doesn't have her horn Rem.. You are what she isn't, you can cook, you can sew, you're kind, you never slack off and best of all you're more well-endowed than her. If you weren't there, I would've been dead. Yes Ram helped, but you were the one that went in first to Dave. You were the one that the second you heard I was on my death bed went to save me. Not Ram."

"My true sister would've been able to do everything alone.."

"Maybe, but you were the one that was there for me, and I'm glad."

"I.. I keep telling you, I'm nothing more than a replacement."

"You aren't. And don't call yourself that, cause you'd be wrong. You keep saying that you're a replacement replacement, but I don't think anyone could replace you Rem. Plus, together you two make a full demon. You're the horn Ram doesn't have."

Subaru closed his eyes for a second as he thought about something.

"You know where I come from there's a saying. "Demons laugh when you talk about next year." So, laugh Rem. Take off that sad mask and laugh, we can talk about what we look forward too in the future. We can talk about tomorrow, and it doesn't have to be anything serious, it could be silly things like what shoes you put on first, what breakfast you'll eat in the morning or at what minute you wake up at. No matter what it is, we can talk about tomorrow and laugh at it because there is a tomorrow to be had."

"I am weak.. so I'm sure I'll have to lean on you.."

"Hah! I'm weak, scary looking, dense and I rely on others to live. Yet I still smile thinning about the future while relying on others. So why can't we lean on each other as we move forward? Let's laugh about tomorrow and the future while we have our arms around each other's shoulders! I've always dreamed about laughing with a demon while talking about the future!"

Rem nearly jumped out of her bed as she hugged Subaru, she wrapped her arms around him and didn't feel like she would ever let go. She cried into his shoulder as he hugged her back, all she could muster was a muffled "Thank you" as she dug her face into his shoulder.

"Thank you, Rem."

And that is a wrap on arc 2, sorry the end there was a bit too similar to the anime but honestly I don't think I could've done that scene any better. So yeah 3 weeks of writing and I did 21k words, pretty good right? Don't expect every chapter to be 20k btw this was a special occasion hahaahhhhhhhhhhh

Well then, spellchecking this thing will be the death of me. Until the next chapter friends!