Natsuki Subaru had died more times than he could care to count. He'd suffered innumerable horrific deaths in more ways than anyone else could even imagine. He'd seen so much, lived through so much, suffered through so much, died so many times, that, to a certain extent, he had developed a near immunity to pain.

But it wasn't quite all the way there. Subaru wasn't quite emotionally dead; he wasn't done with the sensations life had to offer him. A stab wound may have meant nothing but a scratch to him and bleeding out hardly tingled anymore, but there were still experiences that would forever haunt him.

Subaru's tired eyelids snapped open and widened as much as they physically could. As his pupils adjusted to the light, a feeling that he'd long since forgotten continued to linger in his mind:

Absolute, unmitigated fear.

Subaru jolted up from bed, his breathing like that of a terrified mouse as he threw his back against the headboard. His eyes darted everywhere and nowhere, looking for anything and nothing. Visual stimulus didn't even register in his mind. The gears in his brain spun like a hamster on a wheel, alone and isolated in its cage. His thoughts too were looped, frantic, and completely disconnected from reality.

"NonononononononononoIamSubaruIammeIamwholeIamSubaruIammeIamwholeSubaruIammeIamwholeIamSubaruIammeIamwholenononononononononono."

His heart pounded in his ears, the back of his head ached with the pain of slamming into the hard wood of the bed, and his whole body jittered to the point of convulsion—a cold sweat instantly coating him. And yet, Subaru ignored it. Or rather, Subaru did not—no, could not acknowledge it.

His fight or flight response was completely broken, the adrenaline rapidly pumping through his veins unable to keep up with the sheer, unbridled panic he began to lose himself in. He was being totally consumed by that fear, drowning in a viscous ocean of tar where not even a sense of up and down truly existed.

There was nothing to direct him nor give time meaning. He held no perception of space nor recognition of the world's temporal flow. To say that he was unable to think was an understatement. Subaru was wholly unable to even sense anything, trapped within a fearful void produced by his own mind.

He could not taste, so the dryness of his mouth did not occur to him. He could not hear, so the magical clock on the wall did not tick. He could not feel, so every strained and uneven breath meant nothing. And with every second that passed, Subaru fell further and further into the detached reality that was the recesses of his own mind.

But it could not entirely shut down every sense, as much as that fearful void tried. His taste buds caught the faintest hint of saliva, his ears picked up on a low dull hum, and a buzz like tv static spread across his body. Among these blurred, dulled, and faint shadows of reality's lingering connection to him, one sense among them stood out strongest: sight.

He could not see the colors, shapes, or even vague outlines of whatever it was that surrounded him—and even if he did, he would have been unable to process said sights—but he could still register the fact that light entered his pupils, register the existence of brightness around him, and likewise register when said brightness vanished for a fraction of a second.

Like the rhythmic, shining flicker of a distant lighthouse in the darkest of stormy nights, each blink marked a sort of forward progression; it was a ticking of his body's own internal clock that no amount of fear could silence. Each and every quivering blink created a contrast to disrupt the uniform brightness he saw around him. And each time that contrast came and went, he was afforded an oddly comforting granule of stimulus. It was a tether to reality, a sense that he was not stuck as he was in that moment forever, a sense of up and down in that ocean of tar.

And so, with each and every blink, he swam up.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

His frantic breaths began to steady.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

The instinctive grasp he held on the sheets below him loosened.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

And finally, the looped thinking he held grew less and less intense, the momentum of his thoughts slowing then stopping, until he found himself finally free of it.

Subaru started to recognize the world around him once more. He began to process that he was no longer in that state akin to being fragmented, splintered, and torn apart by some vile creature's Lust.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

But just as his mind became his own once more, everything came back to him.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Everything all at once.

Blink.

Blink.

Bli—

From absolute fear to knuckle-whitening frustration, from incomprehensible rage to unbearable guilt, a chaotic storm of emotions surged into the confines of his mind, brewing into a truly awful concoction of barely coherent thoughts. Subaru was put together, put together enough to think again, to think beyond his traumatic response to fear. But…

nk.

It was too much.

He did not blink again. His eyes widened instead, not caring—not being able to care—about their sudden dryness. And then, his lips tore apart from each other and his mouth opened wide. He let loose a blood curdling scream, externalizing that vile concoction in his mind, and it expressed itself in the only way it could: with feral, primal violence.

Subaru kicked his legs out, not able to consider the consequences of doing so. He thrashed around from his place against the headboard, flinging the sheets and whatever else, anything else that found itself in his path. He thrust over and over, using every muscle he could to keep the world around him at bay, keep everything at bay, to the point where his legs burned.

His breathing grew frantic once more, even more so than when he had first awoken. His lungs felt like they were burning, burning just like his legs. The ripping of cold air in and shoving of warm air out tore and scraped at his insides, only intensifying that fire within him. Soon enough, his eyes too burned, still dry and still stressed by his short but intense scream. Stars crept their way across the corners of his increasingly blurry vision, the few smudges he could see growing even more obscured and incomprehensible than before.

With everything burning, everything hurting, and his mind in total chaos, he leaned further into those primal instincts. His arms crossed over his chest in a defensive posture and he gripped down on his triceps with his hands. But it wasn't enough, he wasn't safe, the burning wouldn't stop, that which filled his mind could not be silenced. And so he squeezed. He clenched down on his triceps; his nails sunk through the fabric of his clothes and instantly pierced his own skin. His heart pounded in his ears, pounded in his chest, pounded in his arms. All Subaru could do was grip tighter and tighter, trying to silence the raging river of madness with a sacrifice of his own oozing blood.

Each thought he had spent no more than a fraction of a second at the forefront of his consciousness. He wasn't thinking in words anymore, just flashes of individual images: his failed loops, his past, his trauma, his bonds, his beloved, his enemies… He jumped between thoughts of each of these things and more, his thinking disjointed, disconnected, splintered despite his consciousness being whole. He winced from the combined mental and physical pain. His teeth ground down on themselves and his bleeding arms shook. Even more sweat coated his body and his brain itself trembled. But, just as before, his eyelids quivered along with every other muscle in his body. A lighthouse presented itself to the madman lost within his own mind.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

A few seconds passed, blood pouring out from under his whitened fingertips and soaking into his tracksuit jacket. But, he ceased his thrashing; he calmed his breathing.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

The storm began to slowly ease, but not stop; the rapids calmed but did not cease to rock the boat. The pounding in his ears, the pounding in his chest, and the pounding in his arms quieted, no more than a dull hum emitting from each now.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

With the burning of his eyes, the burning of his legs, and the burning of his lungs all easing once more, that burning in his arms was all that truly remained.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

His tight grip loosened, his meager offering no longer required. His fingers regained their color, and his arms cautiously relaxed.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

The echoes of somewhat rational thought trickled into his mind.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

And then, his bearings somewhat regained, he started to piece together where he was.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

What he was doing.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Who he was fighting.

Blink.

Blink.

Bli—nk.

And just like that, his grip renewed, his fingers plunging themselves into the muscle of his arms, growing white once more. His heart rate skyrocketed, the pounding and burning sensations returning to him. And a whole new primary emotion filled him with that fear suppressed and chaotic thinking ordered: utter frustration.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…" he muttered to himself, giving form and substance to that which had once been trapped within his head.

"DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT…" he began to shout, growing louder with every word, but still muffled as his head trembled, his sights pointed downwards.

"DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING FUCKING WORK!?" he screamed at the top of his lungs, snapping his head back up, a fire burning in his eyes.

And with the sudden clapping noise of a slap across his face, Subaru's train of thought was entirely derailed. He blinked, surprised but largely unaffected by the pain. His blurry vision focused and he finally saw a little girl standing on the bed beside him, a shoe in hand, tears pouring down her guilt-ridden face.

"TALK TO ME, SUBARU! OR, OR IS BETTY TOO USELESS TO EVEN LISTEN?!" she screamed back, not a hint of her composed facade left intact.

"WHAT IS GOING ON, IN FACT?!" she continued, her own frustration almost pleading in comparison to Subaru's.

He paused for a short moment, his thoughts scrambling to catch up to reality. The first thing that came to his mind was the notion that he loved this girl. He cared for her, truly cared for her in a way he didn't think possible until coming to this timeline. Normally, he would try to console her, comfort her, be there for her as she had for him. But at that very moment, he was not even close to being composed.

At that very moment, Subaru. Was. Pissed.

"GLUTTONY IS HERE AND BY NOW THE PERSON I LOVE MOST IS ALMOST CERTAINLY GONE ALREADY, THAT'S WHAT!"

His grip released from his bloodied arms, Subaru let out a torrent of frustration-laden words, aimed right for Beatrice. She could only flinch in response, silent as he straightened from his nearly curled up position and pointed directly in her face.

"AND EVERY SECOND, EVERY FUCKING SECOND I SPEND EXPLAINING TO YOU WHAT'S WRONG IS ONE WHERE I LOSE WHAT LITTLE HOPE IS LEFT, OKAY?!"

The silence that followed lingered for a few short seconds, each fresh breath of air bringing a much needed cool to him—the buzzing in his ears like the sizzle of a hot pan under cold water. And as that pointed finger lowered, Beatrice muttered a single word that got through to his slowly calming mind.

"Subaru…" she said, fresh tears streaking down her face. She wrapped her trembling arms around him, gentle, like she'd burn if she pressed too hard. He too was trembling, only freezing up as her embrace enveloped him.

But she did not burn as she held him tighter. She did not let herself be pushed away by his outburst. As Subaru indulged in a brief moment of catharsis, Beatrice put together the words for a suggestion she knew he'd hate—a suggestion that seemed entirely necessary.

"If…" she started, uncertain and uneasy.

"If the threat is really as great as you say, then—"

"No."

Beatrice glanced up and met his gaze, finding it hardened.

"No, I'm not calling him."

She retracted her arms, and replied with a quiver in her voice that matched the rest of her form, "But… why? He could—"

"I'M NOT CALLING THE DAMN SWORD SAINT TO SAVE HER AGAIN!" he screamed once more, swiping to his right and slamming his fist against the headboard, an audible crack ringing out.

"I'm the Sin Archbishop of Pride, damn it!" Beatrice flinched at the title, and he brought his now broken hand back to his side. "I'm not some helpless civilian waiting for a white knight to come save me! To save MY Emilia!"

"I will save her!" He placed his bleeding hand on his chest.

"I… I have to…" His voice trembled along with that hand.

"It has to be me…" He gripped his shirt, but he still shook in place.


Beatrice regarded her contractor—this self-proclaimed Pride with no actual connection to the Witch Cult, according to his story last night—for a long moment, struggling to keep her vision from blurring. He sat with his back against the bed's headboard, blood staining both arms of his tracksuit, his right hand visibly broken in several places. Sometimes, the degree to which her Subaru could damage himself was almost impressive, but that feat was always overshadowed by her unyielding concern.

His face was pale and sweaty, to the extent where he seemed sickly. His mood was beyond volatile and one wrong word would… had made him explode. And on top of all of that, he'd been having nightmares ever since the early morning, ever since ██████ had left him.

Her head ached for a moment. Who had left him? Why had Subaru's nightmares started? It… hurt to think about for some odd reason.

Beatrice cast this train of thought aside.

"Betty has to be strong, strong for her Subaru."

She closed her eyes and blinked away the beginnings of tears before opening them once more. Her vision clear, Beatrice could see Subaru's expression further changing, his rage fading to reveal an awful melancholy underneath, that same melancholy that nearly tore him apart when her Subaru had first walked through those library doors mere days ago. His frustration melted away, that Pride melted away, only to be replaced by something just as crippling, overtaken by those sins she now truly understood. And so, Beatrice chose to act.

"Very well, I suppose. We'd best get moving, in fact," she said, unwilling to watch him break down again. His heart couldn't take it. Her heart couldn't take it.

"Betty… Betty is not strong enough to carry her Subaru's sins all on her own. Betty is a failure, in fact," she thought, despair once again filling her, threatening to drown her.

At her words, Subaru sighed in relief and shuffled his way off the bed. His breathing visibly calmed, and the shaking of his body eased. And just seeing that was enough to keep Beatrice going.

She forced an image of his smiling face into her mind and swatted that despair away, banishing that sadness from her mind for her Subaru's sake.

"Truly helpless, I suppose."


Subaru spun around once off the bed and moved to grab his partner by her sides, only to be interrupted.

"Subaru."

He paused mid-motion, and looked up at the girl. She was smiling now—a shaky smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Betty told you to talk to her, to trust in her as she trusts in you," she said, unmoving from her standing position on the bed, her arms crossed.

"Beako, we don't have ti—"

"Turn around."

He scowled, but complied regardless. Once he was fully turned, Beatrice gracefully hopped off the bed and latched onto his back, ready for a piggyback ride.

"If we are to move as quickly as possible, this way would be best, in fact."

As she spoke, Subaru pivoted on his heels and bent his knees, ready to sprint towards the window.

"Subaru, stop," she called from behind him.

"What is it this time?!"

"Did you forget that Betty can teleport us both to any place in the mansion, I suppose?" she answered, calm. "Just tell Betty where we need to be, in fact."

"I—" Subaru started, but then stopped.

"I don't know why," he muttered, staring down at his balled and bleeding right fist, "...why I didn't consider that…"

"For the same reason you won't call the Sword Saint."

His fist tightened, the shattered bones within tearing up against ligaments and veins alike. The pain was nothing to him in comparison to the wretched nature of the mere thought of asking for…

Either side of his face was slapped by a pair of dainty, pale hands, yet again derailing his thought process with the sound of a light clap.

"Don't give Betty that look, I suppose. Just because she doesn't see it doesn't mean she doesn't know it's there," Beatrice said. Subaru could practically see her expression through that familiar tutor-like tone.

"We're wasting time," he replied, bitter.

"Then tell Betty where to go."

"...the courtyard at the mansion's entrance."

Instantly, the carpet he'd been standing on twisted and distorted, before a tear in reality opened at their feet and they began to fall through without any issue.

"Was that so hard, I suppose?"

"I love you, but shut up."


Gently landing on his two feet with Beatrice still clinging to his back, Subaru was not greeted with the increasingly familiar sight of the mansion's ruined courtyard. Instead, quickly analyzing his surroundings as he always did, he found himself at the center of a place he'd only recently grown acquainted with: the mansion's entrance hall.

His sights swiftly passed over the geometrically patterned white and lime-green tiled floor, and shot left towards the grand staircase he'd sprinted his way down not long ago. But that too did not hold his attention for more than a moment. He darted his gaze back rightwards, where it lingered on the large double doors to the dining room. For a short moment, he envisioned the yellow maid who'd somewhat earned his respect, totally focused on the completion of her duties and entirely unaware of the battle that was no doubt raging just a short walk away. Something that ridiculous almost made him chuckle, but the thought of the crisis at hand destroyed any chance humor had at worming its way into his mind.

"I'm no better than her. Not once, but twice I walked right through this very hall only to turn my back on Emilia-tan when she needed me most."

He scowled deeply at that thought, his frustration boiling to the surface once more. But he quickly readjusted his focus, pivoting on his feet yet again. He faced the mansion's primary doors, his heated gaze determined, and began to march right towards his intended destination. His attention directed ahead, the muffled sounds of combat—of metal clashing, magic exploding, and earth moving—trickled into the edges of his hearing. That scowl grew ever deeper. But then, only a few meters from the door, Beatrice's voice interrupted him yet again.

"Subaru."

Grinding to a halt, he replied, not even trying to control his tone, "What's the deal, Beako?! We need to be out there right now!"

"Since Betty can not remember them, that important person is already gone. What good does charging in blindly with no plan nor strategy do?" she shot back, the lack of offense or hesitation in her own voice giving Subaru pause.

That pause was all he needed to process those words of hers. His Emilia-tan was already gone, and he had just tried running out to face Gluttony without a plan not five minutes ago. He took a calming breath and relaxed the muscles he hadn't even noticed had been tensed, the scowl he hadn't realized the depth of fading as his expression grew neutral. He closed his eyes for a moment in thought.

And in that silent moment, he finally processed that which he had done, and that which he had failed to do. Flashes of Roy's hungry, needy look filled his mind, drops of saliva left falling in the air from where he had teleported from. Images of Beatrice's confused, desperate attempt to fight back and her earlier death—no, a fate even worse than death—at that hungry boy's hands too asserted itself within his awareness. The sight of Garfiel, Ram, the yellow maid, and even his precious Emilia-tan all lifeless on the ground, gone from the world, lingered amongst his thoughts.

Recalling this, seeing this, truly acknowledging what had happened, Subaru felt beyond conflicted. He felt an awful guilt for how he had treated his partner, an even greater rage at the weakest Gluttony sibling, and… something even more.

All it took was a moment to pause, a moment to reflect, and those somethings he had pushed away from his heart through sheer force of will, through the wielding of his stubbornness and Pride, came crawling back in. Subaru felt beyond frustrated, beyond angry, beyond enraged. His very heart was ablaze. And now, he could feel something on top of that too. That slithering, creeping sensation he'd grown accustomed to had entrenched itself in his soul, taken hold of his entire body, and he even felt its slimy traces along the periphery of his skull. He could feel its influence seeping into his thoughts, feel it starting to fan the flames of his rage. But that was when Subaru realized something equally terrifying and disgusting: this was not a new feeling.

This whole time, ever since he'd first manifested the Authority two days ago, this revolting alien power he'd scorned had been poking and prodding at his greatest desire; it had been pushing him to embrace his oldest promise time and time again in the only way he knew how.

"Just you wait… I swear, I will definitely save you."

Recalling those sacred words, Subaru's fury intensified, but this time of his own volition. He hated it; his prideful self despised this manipulation, this violation of his love for Emilia. He did not die Satisfied. He could stand to be a little more Greedy. He could want more, need more, save more. The madman had changed since coming to this timeline. He was different now, better now. And he refused to allow this Slothful something to deny his rights any further.

But something else was there too, that Greedy something too had been compelling him, even if to far less success. It wanted to save them, to comfort them, to be there for those he cared for. And in his Slothful haste, he had ignored his promise from just last night, his latest promise to the woman he loved.

"Maybe to try to save them too, I guess?"

Subaru opened his eyes and gazed down at his broken hand, seeing it still clenched into a fist. Yet, something felt off… as if what he was seeing was not the full truth. He narrowed his eyes and looked closer. Seemingly coating his hand—no, his entire arm—in a thin film of indeterminate darkness, Subaru saw the signature shadow-black appendage of his Authority of Sloth, his 「Lunatic Limbs」.

"Note: Has properties of rubber, gum, and normal Unseen Hands depending on intent and will of user."

"Causes and feeds off of madness, can be a variety of shapes instead of just hands, yet always starts by overlapping with my own appendages."

Repeating his mental note from the previous afternoon, Subaru determined to dispel his subconsciously manifested authority. He tried to open his hand, but it resisted his command. Subaru's fingers did not simply lift; he was forced to pry each one out of their clenched state. Just revealing his palm felt like moving his hand around in a bucket of cement, and the broken bones and torn up muscles—which he now realized had been all caused by this vile power—didn't help one bit in the effort.

But as those muscles relaxed and the rest of his body fell totally under his command once more, the inky shadow faded away, along with the worst of his fury. His heart rate calmed, his breathing truly steadied for the first time all morning, and his scowl totally disappeared. Subaru felt like he could finally breathe again. His brain ceased trembling. But, looking at his open palm, he felt something… unique. That Slothful something gave him compulsions, ones that had nearly overtaken his mind, body, and soul. However, that Greedy something too gave him compulsions but… they were always lesser than the Slothful ones. It was like the sound of a man snapping his fingers in comparison to a gunshot. Perhaps its effect too would be lesser, weaker in intensity, easier to control, more reasonable in its demands?

Perhaps he could give that Greedy force a chance?

With that gunshot now muffled, he listened closer to what that Greedy something had to say for the first time. And, like a dam bursting open and water surging into the valley beyond, a barrage of Beatrice's past words echoed through his mind once more.

"I thought that you 'don't want to do it all alone anymore', in fact."

"Did Betty's Subaru not beg for help from others just last night, in fact?"

"Betty's Subaru must be honest with her, in fact. You need to trust Betty with your problems, I suppose."

"Betty's help to stand, Betty's voice to look forward, Betty's hands to keep you together… to choose you over Betty's past and to clear a path to our future… that is what we agreed upon, I suppose."

"Betty is sorry that she wasn't enough, sorry that she allowed our future to be doomed."

"TALK TO ME, SUBARU! OR, OR IS BETTY TOO USELESS TO EVEN LISTEN?!"

Tears slithered down Subaru's face. This Greedy force… this thing that he had hated and cast aside… it was… right?

"Subaru?" Beatrice's voice, this time outside of his mind, spoke out from behind him, shaking him from his near-delusional state.

He took one last deep breath, steadying his hand that he only now noticed had begun to quiver, and pieced together a response. "We… we can't kill them in any normal way. They're too damn resistant to any attack we try and they can nearly instantly teleport out of the way of any projectile, magical or physical."

Those few tears grew in number; his steadied hand and voice quivered even more than before.

"Not even creatively using your portals against them will work, they can figure out how to circumvent them. Worse, anything we can do they can do should they touch us even once—subjecting their victims to a fate worse than death in the process."

His once stalwart stance faltered as his legs began to tremble; wetness overtook his face, yet he began to speak even faster.

"We only stand a chance because they go easy on us. This is all just a game to them, a pass-time, a simple meal. They're just kids playing with their food, tormenting us in our last moments because they find it entertaining. They care not for anything but their own stomachs, and will tear through anyone and anything in their paths as if it's nothing, as if all our love and hope and pride is fucking worthless in the face of their godforsaken Gourmet and Bizzare Eating. They—"

This time, his train of thought was not derailed by a slap, but rather the feeling of Beatrice's tightest embrace. He breathed in deep, not even noticing that he'd run out of air, his shaking left detached from the small of her back and felt his newly tear-laden face, and he found his knees pressed against the hard tiled floor. When had he cried all those tears? When did he return her embrace? When had he even fallen apart?

"Subaru," she began, and he gave her words his full attention. "Betty has a plan, to use a spell that can wipe out even the most stubborn of pests engulfed by its effects, in fact."

He held her close as she elaborated, taking even more comfort from the hug than her words.


The mansion's primary doors burst open to reveal Subaru, clad in his tracksuit. An outside observer could not be faulted for seeing him standing alone, but, in actuality, Beatrice stood just behind him, passively using her yin magic to shield herself from view as she dedicated the majority of her focus to the preparation of a far more complex spell.

Subaru, looking out beyond the mansion, was greeted by the largely destroyed courtyard. One of the gazebos had already been demolished and the lawn was in an intermediate state of disrepair. Otherwise, it was nothing he hadn't seen before and he paid it little mind. Shifting his focus, in the distance, he spotted a pair of still in motion blurs he knew to be the elder Gluttony brother locked in battle with Ram. Closer, near the foot of the stairs, he saw Roy standing over Garfiel's lifeless corpse, right where Subaru had died not too long ago. Casting his attention away from the archbishop in the midst of enjoying his meal, Subaru cleared his throat and yelled:

"LEY BATENKAITOS!"

One of the distant blurs slowed and Ley's head turned mid-fight, a smile wide enough to see from far away coming to his face at the call of his name. But, with his attention diverted, Ley's opponent took the chance to say something herself.

"El fula!"

Still looking towards the mansion, Ley jumped out of the way of Ram's attack without sparing her a glance and shouted back, "SUBARU-KUN, MY HERO! HAVE YOU COME TO SAVE ME FROM RAM ~TSU?! SHE'S BEING MEAN! OR ARE YOU HERE TO FULFILL THE PROMISE? WILL YOU BE THE HERO? REGULUS IS DEAD, BUT WE'RE NOT, ~TSU!"

"Get your ass over here, you and your deranged brother both! I want to talk!" Subaru replied, standing confident at the mansion's entrance.

"Talk with a Witch Cultist, in fact? Betty understands your self-proclaimed title, but this is not what Betty meant when she asked for time, I suppose," Beatrice mumbled from just behind him, still hidden by her magic and her eyes still snapped shut with concentration.

Subaru did not reply to her whispers, but noted her odd remark. Had she been listening in to his talk with Emilia last night? Casting that thought aside, Subaru marched forward and stopped near the top of the steps which Roy still stood at the base of.

"Talk? Talk with us?" Ley said, smiling, as he casually walked on over. Ram had vanished from sight, taking the opportunity Ley's shift in attention had given her, but Subaru doubted she'd so easily abandon this fight. "Why shouldn't we just eat you right here and now ~tsu?" Ley asked, more excited than confused at Subaru's odd request.

"Niiiii-san, but we want to eat again…" Roy began to complain from the bottom of the stairs, his hunger not fully sated by a single meal.

But, right as Ley was going to respond, Subaru spoke again, "Louis Arneb will die if you don't."

He had mentally prepared to intimidate the boy, readied himself for a dozen ways the conversation could go and thought of how to extend the time he was buying for his partner's spell. Natsuki Subaru was entirely ready for a tense negotiation with Gluttony.

However, before he could put on the most smug of smiles, before he could breathe in to continue speaking, before he could even blink after making his statement, Natsuki Subaru had already lost his life.


He had died suddenly in the past, he had died without warning when he'd thought himself entirely safe before, but this was on a whole other level. Ley had killed him so quickly that Subaru didn't even realize he'd died until he shot up in bed, and noticed that he was back in his room, Beatrice visible by his side, rather across from his opponent.

Beatrice, having not slapped sense into him, having not given him that hug, having not guided him to realizing the corruption of his own mind, was sitting there by his side. Not standing beside him, not ready to cast her spell and finally get rid of Ley…

Ley Batenkaitos… a child, a pain in his ass, a monster dressed in rags. He was not to be underestimated, Subaru knew that going in, knew to not trust anything in this godforsaken fantasy world's appearance. He explained this to Beatrice, explained that they only stood a chance because he liked to play with his food, because of his delusional ideals of Gourmet.

And yet, Subaru had done the one thing, the only goddamn thing that would make Ley throw that away, that would make Ley take it seriously. Subaru threatened Ley's family, and instantly destroyed any chance Beatrice had to prepare her spell. His part of his partner's plan was what doomed it to immediate failure. All because his first instinct was… to say he'd murder.

He wanted to apologize to Beatrice and tell her he loved her, he wanted to slam his head against a wall and scream at himself for failing, he wanted go down to Meili and confess to her how foolish he was for thinking he could break his habits of murder and extortion. Guilt, frustration, remorse—those feelings and more all coursed through him as he reflected on his anticlimactic and useless death. Above all, though, one learned sentiment stood out in his mind:

Note: Ley does not negotiate.

"Subaru?"

He glanced up, and saw Beatrice holding that same facade as always, that composed mask that hid a fountain of tears just underneath. That was something he had to address, but for now… he had a plan that needed enacting, one that his partner was essential for.

"Beako," he began, "Gluttony is here, both brothers."


"As soon as I finish explaining, I need you to teleport us both to the front of the mansion."

Subaru stood tall beside Beatrice, having appeared near the center of the courtyard, facing the direction of the doors he'd walked through in the previous loop. He gave the destruction around him no mind, in particular not allowing himself the distraction of Emilia's lifeless body nearby, as he'd seen it all before, and instead moved to locate every combatant. A loud crash immediately drew Subaru's attention to the splintered remains of one of the gazebos. Through the dust, he saw the earth itself moving to aid a familiar demihuman. A violent stray gust of wind redirected his sights to his far right, where Subaru spotted a pair of blurs—one brown and one pink—darting around a small section of the outskirts of the front garden.

"Then you need to immediately teleport both the boy dressed in rags and the maid he's fighting as far away as you can manage."

Subaru glanced down to see his partner's hand raised, palm pointed at the blurs. She gave no incantation, but the spell was clear as day in its activation; the air, the grass, the ground, the space itself around the fighters warped and stretched before totally tearing open in a burst of purple magic. Before they vanished, Subaru could see that Ley had stopped moving, and was locking his gaze with Subaru's own. Deflecting a wind blade without looking, Ley smiled wide—he could escape the spell at any time, go and instantly devour Subaru, but… that wasn't how Ley prepared his meals. So, Batenkaitos allowed himself to be sent away with Ram, just as Subaru had grown to expect. Let him play with his food, Subaru would take down his precious brother when Ley wasn't looking.

But Pride lacked the time to savor that thought. There was so much left to do. He ran directly towards the shifting earth and screams of exertion, letting go of Beatrice's free hand. As he pushed himself through step after step, he noted how easily he moved. It wasn't even part of the plan, but Beatrice had casted murak on him anyway before he'd started his sprint. A smile crept onto his face as he opened his mouth to shout.

"HEY, CAT MAN! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET HIM TOUCH YOU!"

Flying directly through the collapsed gazebo, Garfiel spun his body around and planted his feet into the ground, slowing himself down to a halt beside the man he so despised.

"I, fuckin', KNOW!"

"After that, we'll be in for the fight of our lives against his starved younger brother, so you'll have to leave my side once Ley is certainly gone, and fetch the yellow maid from the kitchen as fast as you can."

Leaping right up to them, appearing just in front of where the gazebo had once stood, Roy was set to eat Garfiel in a matter of seconds; they were standing not far from where Subaru always found the demihuman's lifeless body and shattered shields. Thinking on his feet and seeing that Garfiel was maintaining his defensive posture, Subaru had to do something to save them both, and quick. Luckily, he felt his weight return to him, and that gave him an idea.

He called forth that terrible slithering darkness out from within him, and willed it to mold around his right arm, down his back, and into the base of his feet. He wound up said limb, doing so against the same resistance felt when pulling back the string of a bow, and forced that malicious fist of his into an open palm despite its demands for blood and gore. And then, he released. Ripping through the air with as much power as he could put behind it, Subaru threw his strike in a curved motion.

For a moment, Garfiel's eyes widened at Subaru's incoming attack, then narrowed with a sense of utter hate, before realizing—as the blow landed right in the demihuman's stomach and began to apply a powerful torque to him—that it was no attack at all. Subaru pushed Garfiel out of Roy's way with all his might. He pushed and pushed, shoving Sanctuary's Shield to turn a full 180 degrees, and then sending him flying.

Working in unison with the one he despised, Garfiel molded the earth under him, summoning forth a jutting angled pillar out from below his feet and adding to the momentum Subaru had given him. With his hand that lacked a shield, he grabbed that arm Subaru had just broken and held it tight, forcing them to fly through the air together, away from the mansion and right towards the nearby forest.

They landed nearly as fast as they had taken flight, Subaru having to use his 「Lunatic Limbs」 once more to reinforce his legs. He was able to save his left from most of the damage, but several bones broke in his right; at least he could still hop around a bit. Stumbling backwards before supporting himself with a tree, he looked up to see Garfiel scowling at him.

"Don't think my amazin' self's gonna thank ya. We're both still in a worse spot than a meier trapped below a—"

Garfiel spun on his heels, and raised his fists in a defense posture, facing where they'd just come from. If nothing else, Subaru could respect the boy's grit, seeing as his whole body was in a condition almost as bad as Subaru's own. Even with constant healing, the demihuman was covered in his own blood, his every breath a heave, and the exhaustion… it took a lot to keep standing in the face of the starved Bizarre Eating, especially for so long. Subaru knew that from first-hand experience.

He had to cast that thought aside, along with the accompanying guilt that that Greedy force incessantly nagged him with, and ready himself once more. Through a gap in the trees, Subaru could see Roy chaining Leaper after Leaper right towards them. But, just as Roy lunged towards the closest meal he saw, the space in front of him tore open and he flew through a portal. Subaru smiled at this, almost chuckling at seeing it happen yet again, and closed his eyes for a moment as he spoke.

"For a second there, I didn't think you'd get back in time."

"Hmpf, Betty's Subaru should not doubt her, I suppose."

Subaru looked up, and turned to see the yellow maid standing just beside his partner, as disoriented as she was exhausted. Being dead on her feet was fine, the adrenaline that would come with the battle would fix that, but the confusion could be catastrophic. He needed her on board, fast.

"Oi! Maid!" he called, grabbing her attention before the cat man could somehow ruin it all, "We're fighting one of the three sin archbishops of Gluttony. His name is Roy Alphard, the Bizzare Eating, and he is not to be underestimated on account of his age and attitude. Get ready, he'll be back in a moment."

The maid gave an unexpected response to that deluge of information, her sights having drifted away from him as he spoke. "Of course, Subaru-sama," she replied—and if it were anyone else, he may have thought she'd ignored him, but he knew for a fact that she was listening—before her face scrunched up, continuing with an uncharacteristically uncertain cadence, "But if I may ask… who is that boy?"

"What?" Garfiel deadpanned, his defensive posture waning.

"Ah, fuck," Subaru muttered under his breath, before moving to explain, "Listen, Garfiel, your name's been eaten and you've been erased from the world's memory, myself excluded. That's one of Gluttony's powers. Even your sister is unable to remember you."

"Yer a damn'd liar!" the cat man who had of course ruined it all because that was what he always does and Subaru was never forgiving him for what he did to his mayo exclaimed.

"Betty does not remember you either, in fact," Beatrice interjected, leveling a glare at Garfiel, "So you'd best save your breath for the fight ahead instead of wasting it doubting Betty's Subaru, I suppose."

Naturally, the nameless shield went to escalate the argument while Beatrice adopted an even harsher expression, but Subaru cut everyone off. The fact that he was the level-headed one here… yeah, not the time to reflect on that.

"OKAY! That's enough of that." He motioned to clap, before realizing that his right arm was entirely limp. "I'll catch you two up to speed if we survive, but for now try and work together to stop us from getting killed… or worse."

The bickering parties broke off, with Beatrice coming to stand by Subaru's side. The yellow maid cautiously approached her brother, and as she tore off her clothes, beginning a full beast transformation, Subaru gave his partner his full attention.

She didn't need to say a word, her butterfly-patterned eyes stared up at him and told him everything he needed to know. Several layers of concern wafted off of the spirit: she wanted to heal him, worried about their plan, troubled herself with the demihuman siblings' drama for the sake of the plan, suppressed her feelings of inadequacy at letting him lean against a tree with a broken body, and even more all at once. He shoved down his own guilt, his own feelings of failure, that warmth in his eyes that made him want to break down and cry again, and instead chose to put on a smile, taking his left hand and placing it on the girl's head.

"Next step, Beako," he said, as she sheepishly accepted his head pat.

But there was no time for sentimentality. Just as Beatrice had a role to play, so did he. Spirit and contractor both went to work, the former closing her eyes in concentration and the later redirecting his attention to the ensuing conflict.

Beside the now familiar sight of Garfiel's defensive posture stood the large cougar-like form of the beastly yellow maid. Naturally, she'd quickly shaken off the pain that came with so much as looking at her nameless brother, and steeled herself for the battle—truly, the model of a maid. But would a maid and a brat be enough to combat Roy Alphard?

Well, as Roy appeared once more through the gap in the trees, Subaru supposed that he'd shortly find the answer to said question.

"Once both Garfiel and his sister are fighting off Roy, begin to charge the mana for Al Shamac and use it when I signal."

From his place against the tree, Subaru watched in silence as sparks flew and the earth itself tore apart. The whole of the forest trembled under the intensity of the brawl, even the mighty oak that supported him shaking. Every second, trees uprooted and roars sounded out. It was clear that the yellow maid was taking great care to steer the battle as to remain in place. Otherwise, he and Beatrice would not have been safe standing so close to the conflict.

From what little he could see through the cloud of dirt, debris, and dust that obscured his vision, Subaru saw the siblings put up fledgling defense after fledgling defense… which Roy broke through over and over with increasing ease. Perhaps they'd've lasted longer, coordinated better, had Garfiel not lost his name, but even in that case it would only have been a matter of time until…


He had to keep going, keep dodging, keep fighting, keep being the shield they needed him to be, keep putting earth between himself and the enemy. Between his enemy and his sister. His sister that couldn't remember him anymore… no! No, he could not lose control, could not transform, could not stop dodging, could not stop being a shield.

The large cougar-like beast slammed down against the ground, hard, with the enemy not far behind. He had to put the earth between them, had to be a shield even when his body couldn't reach in time.

But the enemy was clever, the enemy was powerful, the enemy just teleported right through the earth, right through the shield, right through Garfiel as if he wasn't there, wasn't there just like he wasn't there in his sister's memory.

"NO!" he screamed, pushing his body forward, to stop the enemy, to—

"Frederica Baumann ~tsu!"

No? Why… was he so angry? Why had he pushed his body forward? Why did he need to be a shield here?

"Ahh, FINALLY! FOOD AFTER SO LONG~TSU!"

He scowled. His enemy was so damn happy with himself, so damn pleased. Garfiel wanted to go all out, slam the child into the ground, let that directionless rage lash out at the enemy.

And… why wouldn't he? What reason was there for him to stay in control? His head hurt when he thought about it, but there seemed to be nothing. He'd die fighting this child soon anyway. And if Garfiel Tinsel, the Shield of the Sanctuary, was to die, he'd die fighting to be Ram's shield, if nothing else.

Keep going, keep dodging, keep fighting, keep being the shield they needed him to be, keep putting earth between himself and the enemy—that mindset was worthless, a fruitless tactic. And so, he stopped being in control. And so, Garfiel let loose.


"Not yet, Beako."

Subaru watched the brief pause in fighting with baited breath. Although Roy wasn't moving and wouldn't for several seconds, he couldn't risk missing. There'd be a better opportunity soon anyway.

A hulking figure akin to a tiger—that Subaru noticed bore a striking resemblance to a certain cereal mascot—stood where Garfiel once had. The ground shook with each step it took, and its muscles bulged with barely contained rage. It dragged its fists up, lifting them above its head, and approached the still motionless Roy. It then slammed down with full force in an attack that sent shockwaves Subaru could feel, leaves falling from what few trees remained standing around him. Yet, it was nothing more than a cheap shop, one that hit Roy only because the boy was distracted by his food. Of course, the tiger probably didn't know this, or else it wouldn't have tried, and it certainly wouldn't have continued, slamming down over and over and over.

"Now, Beako."

The tiger's hands slammed down once more, but this time a loud crunch was heard, accompanied by a pained roar. It raised its hands from the crater it'd pummeled its enemy into, only to find them mangled and bloodied, as if they'd just slammed into something harder than even Garfiel's shields. As expected, Roy had used Carnivorous Beast, and unknowingly gave Beatrice the best shot she could ask for.

"Al Shamac."

As Roy went to lick his hand, the space around them twisted, far more violently and suddenly than with a standard portal. It tore and then never stopped tearing, the purple magic growing and strengthening and totally engulfing its targets. Within seconds, the spell completed, the dust settled, and there was simply nothing where the corpse of the yellow maid once laid, where her broken brother had been left behind, and where the Bizzare Eating had been trapped by his own insatiable appetite.

Finally, Subaru could breathe a sigh of re—

"Hey, onii-san."

Cold. The chill that voice sent down his spine was worse than a bucket of ice water, worse than even his beloved's magic. Goosebumps overtook his skin, his breath was forced to pause, and Subaru tentatively shifted his gaze left. Just across from the tree he leaned on, Subaru found a thin old man standing there, totally unscathed. But with that look, those words, that demeanor, Subaru knew exactly who had called to him.

"Louis… Arneb."

The wide smile that stretched itself across the old man's face pushed a ball bearing into Subaru's stomach, and it only grew in weight when he replied.

"So you really do know us ~tsu! How?"

To Subaru's left, in his peripheral vision, he saw Beatrice raise her palm, and began to cast a spell, "Min—"

But Louis had already Leaped right up to the girl, and said, "Solar Eclipse."

Before Beatrice could finish her incantation, the towering muscled form Louis had adopted raised his own palm, and obliterated the spirit before Subaru's very eyes. Once before, Subaru had seen Palm of the Fist King used on Beatrice. It had knocked her through the library and created a hole in her so big that the torrent of blue mana that was her essence leaked out until she was no more. But this… this was instantaneous. He already couldn't feel their contract anymore. Beatrice was gone without a trace, gone the instant Louis wanted her gone.

"Well, onii-san?"

Numb, Subaru turned to face the monster in a warrior's body, the monster that had just killed his partner, the monster that pretended to be a little girl. Of course she didn't care. Of course she was still focused on having her question answered. Of course Subaru had let this happen.

Was this really what he did it all for? Was this really all he accomplished by sacrificing all of the mansion's happiness? Is that what he called 'saving them all,' being no better than fucking Louis Arneb? The Greedy force was disgusted, and Subaru couldn't bring himself to disagree, not anymore.

Clearly, he'd failed. Clearly, he'd killed them all. Clearly, he was inept, unable to stick to a change for even a few minutes before he fucked it all up again. Worse, he couldn't even try again, as true death awaited him, coating him with a deep fear that he'd never known how to cope with. She'd eat him before he could kill himself through any normal means; that he knew for certain. Perhaps… he should use that ability to reset again? Perhaps… it would be better to allow that terrible force into his mind than to be eaten? Perhaps… he should just give up on that foolish hopeful promise he made?

"Well, well, isn't this quite the predicament."

Out of the forest, a blade flew directly at Louis, who simply responded, "Solar Eclipse." The gladiator-like body morphed into a fat one, whose face fully allowed Louis to express her malicious soul. The knife shattered upon impact with her skin, proving his suspicion that this was the source of the ever-annoying Carnivorous Beast.

Both Subaru and Louis turned to the source of the voice and blade, finding… a woman dressed in black, lurking in the shadows of the trees. It was Elsa Granhiert, The Bowl Hunter, but…

"Why?" Subaru asked.

"Why what, esteemed employer?" Elsa replied, confused as to what he was questioning with his life moments from ending. She took the opportunity to leave the shadows and approach him.

"Why did you save me?" he said, and before Elsa could respond he went on, "Why did you doom yourself? Why don't you just let me die, take Meili, and leave this place? Is Capella forcing you to do nothing?"

At this, the Bowel Hunter's usual smile faded, and she froze in place. Louis's reaction was the opposite; she strengthened her terrible grin and said, "Solar Eclipse," returning to the form of the old man. A moment later, she vanished, before announcing from atop a nearby tree, "Don't mind me, onee-san. Please, go ahead, answer onii-san's questions ~tsu."

With Elsa still shocked into silence, Subaru continued, "And now she's mocking me too, playing with my life like I'm just an ant under her looking glass."

He clenched his left fist, and forced his limp right side to do the same.

"Why won't anyone just… just walk away? Why won't anyone just leave my life and let us be happy?"

His brow furrowed, his teeth grit, and his nasty eyes sharpened to a deadly degree.

"Why must Gluttony devour us, Roswaal scheme against us, Ram and Garfiel try to do the same, Reinhard…"

He gripped his hair with both hands, and tore.

"WHY?! WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT SOMETHING FROM NATSUKI SUBARU?!"

His fistfuls of hair shook along with his whole body. The fear of true death, of failure, of anything and everything—it vanished, entirely supplanted by a frustration nearly on par with what he'd experienced at the start of his previous loop.

"Why can't these damn forces leave me be, these damn expectations? WHY?" he began to scream again, glaring right at Elsa, "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE, WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE SATISFIED?!"

The Bowel Hunter's tension eased, her widened eyes returning to normal, but her tone grew stern and serious. She stood tall in the face of his all-consuming frustration, and answered honestly, "Because you promised me you would help Meili. You promised me that you would save her from what I couldn't, protect her from what I couldn't…"

He did not wait to reply, scoffing before refuting her assertion, "But I failed, Elsa. I'm not like Oliver. I can't help your sister."

Yet again, she froze at the use of a name Subaru shouldn't know, but he pressed on, "I know her, you know her. You think confinement will truly fix her? She's suffering down there, you know she is. Every day she must wonder if you're even still alive, if I'll even keep her alive to see tomorrow!"

Elsa raised her kukri blade to his eye, halting it only a centimeter away from his pupil. He didn't even flinch.

"That," she spat, her face contorted by pure disgust. "That look is why. That look tells me you know that's not true. That look I absolutely despise, that foolish and naive attitude where you neither accept death as an end nor resist it…" she said, her voice uncharacteristically shaking along with the blade—whether from bottled rage or something else, Subaru could not tell. "The fact you can have that look, yet still always win… that is why."

A moment of silence passed between the two, before Subaru ended it with a deep sigh, all that frustration going along with his breath. What remained was a chuckle, one that morphed into a fun-on laugh.

"A pep talk from the Bowel Hunter… what a bizzaro world this is indeed."

As he regained control of himself, Elsa retracted her blade. Subaru met her eye again, this time with a softened gaze rather than a glare.

"You truly are repulsive, Elsa Granhiert," he said with a natural smile.

"As are you, Natsuki Subaru," she replied, her lips ever-so-slightly curved upwards.

Subaru took a short moment to look over the scene around him. This section of the forest was devastated, and the front of the mansion was worse. All those he fought beside were gone without a trace, with the yellow maid and her brother further gone from even the world's memory. Ram was undoubtedly losing her fight against Ley, if she hadn't lost already. Emilia's lifeless body surely still laid in the courtyard.

He sighed, and allowed the emotions these images brought to pass through him as he processed the thought to its logical end.

He'd done it again. Last time it was Blue, the clown, Elsa, Meili, the man who could've been his friend… and even with his second chance, Subaru had sacrificed them all, to get to a point in the fight where the only option left was death? Had he even really changed? Would he just live with murder as a habit forever?

"But even the worst habits can be broken."

"Ah…"

That Greedy force, it offered Meili's hopeful words, words from the him that had somehow earned Elsa's hesitant hateful trust, and… it was right, again, wasn't it? It'd… always been right, hadn't it?

Subaru met Elsa's eye once more, that natural smile of his managing to persist on his face, "I'll do it, Elsa. I promised… promise to save them all."

"Big words from a dying man," she retorted, lightly shaking her head, "but… with your luck, clearly anything is possible, esteemed customer."

"Anything is a big word, onee-san." Louis, having once again adopted the form that granted her Carnivorous Beast, jumped down from her perch with a loud thump. Slowly stepping forward towards the pair, her usual smile was gone, replaced by something more contemplative, more intense, and even more threatening. "Satisfied… Satiated… let's see what makes you think you could ever achieve that ~tsu."

Her steps suddenly sped up, her expression yearning, hungry. But even in this situation, Subaru did not feel the cold her voice previously brought return. He had made a promise, and a pampered little girl would not stop him from fulfilling it.

As Subaru bit through his tongue in a practiced motion, Elsa jumped between him and Louis's charging form. "Ahh…" The image of the same woman, beaten and bloodied, surrounded by flames, the only thing standing between a fallen angel and Subaru, naturally came to the forefront of his awareness. It was almost… nostalgic. "So that's how you felt… the whole time, huh."

Gluttony reached a hand out, as if to consume the Bowel Hunter, but as Louis said, "Solar Eclipse," something went wrong in her. The fat form was replaced by a muscular gladiator, Elsa was obliterated by Louis's palm, but she did not press forward, did not continue to try and eat Subaru.

Instead, as the scattered remains of Elsa's body began to reform, in the last few moments of Subaru's consciousness, Louis seemed to be arguing… with herself?

Blink.

"What are you doing ~tsu?!"

Blink.

"No! We can't eat Elsa! Mama would punish us!"

Blink.

"Oh… Roy is resisting? He can do that?" Subaru thought, as the conversation grew more and more distant with less and less blood running through his veins.

Blink.

"You idiot! We weren't going to—"

Blink.

"Get out! We want to eat! And you wasted a meal! Ley sho—"

Blin—

And with that, Natsuki Subaru lost his life, bleeding out under a tree, yet more confident than ever… this time, with a whole new sort of plan in mind.


Author's Note: It's been seven (7) months since I suddenly went on hiatus for this fic, without much warning, before switching over to writing Fruits of Sloth instead… which I also haven't updated in awhile, but I'll be rectifying that in the coming weeks. For now, let's all just celebrate together, because today marks one year since I first published chapter one… in all its script style 2k words barry allen pacing glory. One year… since I've started writing, since I've joined this community, since I've developed skills I never thought myself capable of, since I found support and companionship among my fellow writers, since I took that first ignorant step into an unknown world with months of struggle and rewrites and editing and critiquing and Natsumi simping and rock winking ahead. Ah, so much can happen in one year, so much can change. But that's enough public self reflection outta me, back to what you've read this far for: the fic.

Pride's Greed still has several chapters left in this ongoing arc alone, and I'm not sure when I'll get to them but I promise it won't take seven (7) months again. For the time being, after a quick cracky pitstop yall will be seeing come out in a few days (if I've finally learned the definition of a deadline), I'll be working to release chapters three and four of FoS ASAP since they've been mostly done for awhile now. And after that… well, I guess we'll see which of the several projects I'm juggling atm I'll most want to write more of when the time comes. (The secret ones are my favorites, but it'll probably be FoS)

Thanks to EmiliaNatsuki once again for all his great help in editing this chapter, especially that first section that I'm most proud of, and for his relentless pushing for me to improve and improve the prose until it became the first excerpt I felt confident enough to show to people I know irl. Further, thanks to BobDoorman for also helping to edit it, and for forever traumatizing me into double and triple checking that my characters are actually in character before I'm forced to rewrite everything because Ley was OOC (and DOES NOT negotiate). They both, along with the many other writers within this community, have enabled me to come so far, encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to just do nothing, and pushed me to be the best writer I could be… the best me I could be… and then kept on pushing into the future. And of course, thank you for reading the chapter dear reader, and this lengthy sentimental note. Ah, hell, I did end up doing more sappy self reflection. Well, whatever, it's like a birthday, but for my writer's spirit, so it's fine.

p.s The Greed IF LN (and other stuff) fucked up all the canon for this fic, so we're kinda playing it fast and loose now (with old fuck ups, trying to avoid new ones as best as I can). I know Frederica is supposed to be depressed because Clind died, and I know that Tappei wrote in his Pride IF notes that Felt was a candidate. But I didn't/couldn't know those things when I started and I'm not rewriting again, so tough titties.

-TheColourPurple