I do not own Re:Zero. All content hereafter is based on the intellectual property of Tappei Nagatsuki or his associates involved in the production of Re:Zero. This story remains on the site and can be removed at their behest respectfully. This work respects their intellectual property and claims the right of parody, alteration, or recreation of an intellectual property without monetary intent for fair use reasons.
This story takes place in an alternate universe where minute differences will make huge impacts. If you notice a discrepancy between this story's details and the original source material, it is most likely deliberate.
The Witch of Envy sat in her shrine by the Great Waterfall.
Satella sat there, too.
The Witch of Envy looked upon the realm of her power, the domain of which extended over the target of her affections, one Natsuki Subaru.
Satella looked upon him as well.
The young man had made a habit of dying several times to get through a single situation, something which was an unending source of deranged affection for the Witch of Envy, but of worried angst for Satella. They had gifted him the power of Return by Death, each for their own reasons, but with the same result. Satella wished for her love to end the Witch of Envy's bipolar control over her power, and the Witch wished to keep her "love" alive for long enough to free her from her captivity. Still, both had agreed that the power was useful to him, and so they set upon him the world-shattering capability to respawn shortly after dying. It had been useful, of course, but something was still missing from Satella's point of view, a viewpoint that the Witch did not share; Subaru had no way to correct an error made prior to a Return by Death.
This was an oversight which Satella noticed and which the Witch ignored as soon as Subaru's first return became reality. Still, the powers of the cultists and the witches were mystical, and would be difficult to overcome even as powerful as Satella was, especially with the Witch battling her for control of her mind. Still, she felt the need to try, and try she did. With all of her willpower, she focused her power on the being of her deepest affections, and she pored over him. The Witch, she felt, watched her closely.
When she attempted to make her change, the Witch pounced.
It was an exhausting war, the conflict between the two personalities; it was almost too much for Satella to complete her changes, but she held to the very last minute, knowing exactly what would happen if she were to let up any earlier than the completion of her intent. The Witch inside of her felt her control over the bond between the two of them lessen ever so slightly, as Satella took more control over their connection with Subaru.
She could not do much, but she could make life, death, and rebirth pass more easily for him until the time came.
And at least he would no longer be alone.
Fully spent and unable to wrestle with the Witch inside any longer, Satella fell. She sat there, resting.
The Witch sat there, too.
"I cannot understand if you do not tell me!" Emilia practically shouted at Subaru, who sat in bed, clutching his head as the stress of his current situation plagued his mind. He had failed in his duel versus one of the knights of Lugnica, that arrogant prick, and as a result he had humiliated himself and Emilia, proclaiming himself a knight and insulting the entire nobility of the kingdom. It had been for Emilia's honor, of course, but hardly anyone could see it from his perspective, and now he wanted nothing but to tell her everything he had gone through, but he could still feel the Witch's influence inside of himself, and so he felt his next action would be an incredibly stupid one to take, but he took it anyway. That was just who he was.
"I can rewind time by dying! Urk!" Subaru flinched as he shouted, expecting to feel an intense pain in his chest halfway through his sentence, and tensing up further when he finally got through the entire thing, fully thinking that he was about to die- for good this time. Instead, he clutched at his head in the same position as before, staring down at his chest in surprise as a pervasive silence filled the room. Glancing up from his bed, Subaru saw that the entire room had frozen. Emilia's face was one of disbelieving shock, but she appeared not to be moving. The door was stuck in an open position, with a familiar bowl of blue hair and a dainty hand just barely visible peaking through the crack in the doorway. The owner, Rem, had one foot inside the door and her mouth open as if she were about to speak.
Slowly, gingerly, and deliberately, Subaru stood up from the bed, trying not to move quickly enough to upset the soreness that still remained from his healing, although he was surprised when he stood up to find that his pain was completely gone in this trance-like state of the world. He stretched and let the stress of the day roll off of his shoulders, cracking his fingers and then putting his hand up to his chin in thought.
"So before, if I mentioned my Return by Death to anyone, the Witch would clamp on my chest and threaten to steal... err... my soul? But now if I do it, this happens," Subaru wondered aloud, stepping around the bed and waving his hand in front of Emilia's face with a stern expression of focus.
"Emilia-tan, are you there? Hello?" he experimentally asked, and then when she did nothing that showed that she could move, he turned towards Rem, approaching her with the same caution, waving his hand in front of her face as well, "Rem-rin? Are you in there somewhere? Rem?"
As with Emilia, Rem was completely still and seemingly lifeless, like a statue. He looked closely and saw that her chest appeared not to be thumping. Then, he raised the back of his hand up to her nose and felt that she was not breathing. For a moment, panic set in and a thousand terrible scenarios passed through his mind about having killed Rem and Emilia, before his logic finally returned and he took a deep breath.
"Either time has completely stopped inside the room, or Rem-rin and Emilia-tan have entered some form of statuesque trance. One means that the Witch's influence has changed, but the other could mean that I've walked them into a trap. Think, Subaru! What would Beatrice say about this?" he scolded himself, pacing in front of Rem with his hand still on his chin.
"Got it! 'Experimenting with the magic involved should be performed carefully. If an object still moves after you let go of it then they are in stasis, I suppose.' Thanks, Beatrice! I'm glad I always come to you with my problems! Now, let's see..." Subaru spoke to himself. He retrieved a flower from a vase on a table across the room, and then he raised it above his head as high as he could reach, immediately letting go and watching as the flower stopped in mid air where he left it. Excitedly, he ruled out the possibility of Emilia or Rem being placed under stasis individually and approached Rem again, deciding that should anything go wrong, she would be the most understanding as Emilia was not in a good mood as of late.
He took a deep breath, then slowly reached his hand out towards the daintier maid's hand on the door. His fingers shook lightly as the weakness he retained from the healing still remained, despite the absence of the pain. As gently as he could manage, he extended his pointer finger and took one step towards the blue-haired Oni, watching with curiosity and no small amount of stress as his finger made contact with her smaller one. Suddenly, a bright flash of light shook his vision and he wiped his eyes with his other hand, regaining his sight a few moments later only to look up and find himself standing in an extremely empty landscape of nothing but Witch-black magic, all devoid of life or sound except for...
Rem, she was standing in front of him in an anatomy pose, eyes closed and... very much naked. He looked down at himself and turned immediately several shades of red as he noticed he was wearing nothing as well. Still, she appeared unconscious or at least sleeping, so Subaru regained his bearings and took a few steps around her, looking for anything that could be causing her unconsciousness. When he reached her front once more, he stopped himself from looking down at her long enough to see the outline of where her horn appeared during her rampage. He lightly swept aside her hair and saw that the center of her horn glowed lightly, just enough to be visible but dim enough to be hidden by her hair. He reached forward, and he touched that light curiously.
Her eyes shot open, and he jumped backwards with an audible shout of fright. From her horn, a white light pulsed down her body, and suddenly he found himself blinded once more. Covering his eyes with the crook of his elbow to block the bright light, he heard what he could only describe as something "clicking into place," and then he peaked under his elbow at just the right time to witness Rem's light fade. She was wearing her maid uniform once more, and though he had never noticed it, he looked at his arm and saw that he was wearing his old jacket.
The blackness around them faded away, and Subaru felt something hefty in his left hand. He looked at the confused face of the now awakening Rem, and then he glanced down at his hand, where he saw something that made his eyes widen.
He was carrying a bag of groceries. Inside was a packet clearly labeled in Japanese.
The street of the merchant district was bustling with activity, all except for two time travelers.