Chapter 4: Sound of Madness

The sun shined brightly through the windows and into the small bedroom. On the bed, three people laid in comfort despite the blinding light. Of those on the bed, the pink haired demon was the first to wake up, or so she thought.

'What's under my head? Why's it so comfortable?' She knew it wasn't a pillow, but it felt like one. Turning her head slightly, Ram discovered where her head had been resting. She found Subaru's bare shoulder under where she had just been. 'Was I using Barusu as a pillow?'

"Well good morning Ram." Subaru smiled as he seemed to have surprised her.

"What did you do to me?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she glared at him.

He chuckled at her face. "Nothing bad. You were moving closer to me in your sleep. I decided that lending you my arm as a pillow would bring you some comfort. I didn't know you would come to my shoulder."

Ram's eyes went wide that this was her own doing. "I-I apologize. It was indecent and…"

"It's ok Ram. It was nice to see both of you sleep so peacefully. You must have been happy to be close to me."

"Now you're just speaking madness." In reality, Ram may have been surprised at first, but she did feel more rested than she had in a long time. She stood up and stretched a moment.

"It's okay to sound mad every once in a while." Subaru reached his hand up and began to stroke Rem's hair as she slept. "She's very peaceful when she sleeps."

"When we were children, she would kick and hit and roll all over me." Ram giggled a bit at the memory. Those were happier days. Her eyes instantly went back to blank and stern.

"I'm sorry Ram. For doing this to her." Tears began to form in his eyes. He had come to love the girl that was asleep in his arms and the thought of her in pain was unbearable. The memories of all the time he'd seen Rem die came flooding back.

Ram thought for a moment. 'He never wanted to leave her.' "There is no need to apologize. I understand why you sent her away and how hard it must have been." She sat back on the bed next to him. "Thank you. You kept her from doing something really stupid. Even though you don't owe us a thing, you've put your life on the line to save us many times."

Subaru used his free hand and held Ram's. "You two have done more for me then you will ever know. Both of you are very precious to me." The smile on her face brought a smile to his. "Come on, we have probably another hour or so before Emilia wakes up." He gently pulled her back to his side.

"No perverted stuff Barusu."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He wrapped his arm around her form, much like he had Rem's. Deciding to let the twins sleep, he kept an eye and ear on the door.

Emilia's room

Emilia slowly woke up to the light in her eyes. She peered around to find she was not in her own bedroom but another house.

"Where am I?" Then it all came back. "Oh yes, we're at Lady Crusch's manor." Then it all really came back. Her reason for being here, her inner turmoil, the kiss with Subaru. She touched her lips with her pale fingertips. "H-He kissed me." Another thought burst its way through the rest. "What if I get pregnant!"

Suddenly, a flash of green lit the room. "Good morning Lia." Puck announced as he came into the room.

"Good morning Puck." Her smile was nothing unusual, but Puck sensed something more. She was trying to hide something.

"What happened while I was asleep?"

"Oh, nothing much. We're in Lady Crusch's manor. Her convoy was attacked a few days ago so we came to find Rem."

"Is she okay?"

That was when the scene of Rem kissing Subaru flooded her mind. 'What if Rem gets pregnant?!'

Puck noticed the look of concern on her face. "Hey, Lia? Is Rem okay?" The little cat spirit floated down so he could look in her eyes.

"Oh, yes. Rem's fine. She lost a little mana and energy, but she's fine." Emilia threw up a façade smile to get Puck to believe her.

"Lia?"

"yes."

"Are you okay? I remember hearing some commotion outside my crystal, then it all died off."

Emilia smiled at the memory of her heroic Subaru jumping into the wagon to save them. "N-Not much happened. A few mages attacked the carriage, but Sir Wilhelm fought them off."

Puck wasn't really asking about that. He knew something else happened while he slept. That something was the reason that Emilia had been smiling for so long. "Are you sure nothing else happened?"

"Y-Yes." Her face fell but a small smile formed. "No. Subaru told me that he loves me."

"That's great Lia!" Puck did little backflips in the air. "I was wondering when he was gonna tell you."

"You knew?"

"It was too obvious."

The kiss came back into her mind. "Puck? He kissed me."

"That's even better!"

"What if I get pregnant?!" She quickly shut her mouth and her eyes went wide.

Puck chuckled as he placed his paws on her wrists. "Oh Lia. You're so innocent its adorable. A simple kiss won't get you pregnant. He would have to do a whole lot more than that."

"So, Rem's not gonna get pregnant either?"

"Huh? He kissed Rem too?"

"Y-Yes, well. She kissed him." Emilia pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them.

"So, let me get this straight. He told you that he loves you. Then when Rem kissed him, he didn't stop her?" Puck had an annoyed look on his face.

She turned her head to the ground. She had decided that Subaru loved her, and that Rem loved Subaru. He had already told her that she was his number one, so why did this recap hurt so much. "Yes."

"I'm gonna go talk to him." Before Emilia could stop him, Puck blipped out of the room. The great cat spirt then searched the large mansion for the one he wanted to see. He found his target in a very peculiar position. The green glow once again lit the room as Puck blipped in above Subaru. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Hey Puck. I was wondering how long it would take you to find me." Subaru was cool and calm about the entire thing. Like nothing he was doing was wrong. Puck found this quite annoying.

"You really don't care, do you?"

"Care about what?"

"Emilia. She's over there having a mental dilemma because you kissed her. Not only that, I learned you kiss…"

Subaru unwrapped his hand from around Ram and raised it. "Please Puck. They're sleeping still."

"You are an absolute dog."

"Strange coming from a cat." He chuckled at his own joke. "I understand what you mean Puck. In many ways, I'm not proud of this either. Look at things this way. Rem and Emilia both love me. I love both of them. I figured that the best way to make them both happy was to try and love them both."

"That doesn't come close to explaining your current position." Puck growled. 'There is no way he can justify this.'

"Didn't you read the last chapter?"

"Huh?

"Never mind. Anyway, Ram came to me last night and said that Rem was having a night terror. She dragged me here before I could put a shirt on to help her. After that was done, Rem wrapped herself around me and wouldn't let go. I knew that Ram wanted to stay close, so I offered her the other half of the bed."

'Okay that was a good reason.' Puck admitted to himself. "How do you plan to make this up to Lia?"

"By spending the rest of the day with her of course."

Puck growled again. "You're gonna need to do a Hell of a lot more to make things up to her." Before Subaru could even think of answering, Puck was gone.

"Well, that was long and loud." A tired voice came from his left.

"Welcome back to morning Ram." Subaru smiled.

"You woke me up Barusu. How do you plan to make that up to me?" Mimicking what Puck had asked.

"What would you like me to do for you Ram?"

Ram sat in thought for a moment. 'Rem looked so happy when Barusu kissed her. I wonder…' She leaned up and over his chest. "Kiss me."

"W-W-What?" This had to be a joke, right? Wrong.

"I told you. Kiss me. Or am I not worth your…" She was silenced once again. Only this time, Subaru used his lips. 'Wow, it really is nice.'

After a few seconds, a gasp got them apart. Rem had woken up.