Pleiades: A Lonely Star Dies

by mgman

It's often been said that space is the final frontier form man, a place of infinite possibilities with the possibility of alien life. but when man ventured towards the stars, they found nothing but empty space devoid of life. but for a certain raven haired nasty eyed man, a malevolent force will try to claim his soul, tearing the very fabric of his sanity to ribbons in the process

1. Prologue

Hello everyone, if you are reading this then welcome to this new story.

That I am undertaking as an official side project to my main story watching Subaru lose his shit for 636 minutes straight.

Anyway as you can maybe guess by the title or the brief description, this is a reaction fanfiction, where the characters of re zero, react to Subaru taking Isaac Clark's place as the main protagonist of the original Dead Space game.

All of the characters are posted Arc 6, also this story will not make any direct references, but it does take place in the same universe as Watching him die again and again, which is an excellent fanfiction you should definitely check, although reading that story is not necessary to understand what's going on in this one.

Finally this story is kind of a spiritual continuation of the original Re: Dead Space, which despite not been updated in forever, and only having 3 chapters, is definitely a story I would recommend reading.

but without any further ado I present to you the first chapter of Pleiades: A Lone Star Dies.

(PS quick shout out to the author Shape of Evil and The Writing Pupil, for coming up with the actual name for this story as well as helping me solidify ideas for the story, definitely owe you both big time my dudes.)

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As the screen faded to Black, everyone couldn't help but feel relief well up within them, despite the horrifying and twisted journey Subaru had experience in the Sanctuary. The young man had managed to come out on top again, causing most people in the audience, to feel a great sense of pride for the young man, for seemingly doing the impossible and overcoming colossal odds, not even the most powerful Knights could have overcome.

All of the members of the Emilia camp, have their own thoughts and feelings on Subaru's journey in the sanctuary. Each members thoughts ranging from extreme guilt over causing much of Subaru's tournament, to absolute pride and affection, over the fact that Subaru had overcome such colossal hardships. Emilia in particular, looked down at her sleeping Knight, gently tracing the line of his cheek with one of her hands, feeling her eyes moisten slightly, as all of the pain and torment, he had put himself through for her sake came to mind.

Rem had a similar thought to the half elf, looking at her beloved longingly, as he rested peacefully in the theatre with them, however the more she looked at her beloved, more scenes from the horrifying events in the sanctuary played in her mind, everything from the attack on the mansion, the appearance of the great rabbit, and to the reveal that Roswaal, the man that had saved her and she looked up to, was the very same man that was single-handedly responsible, for every hardship and death Subaru had experience since coming to their world. But despite all of the horror and misery, but she couldn't help but feel smile spread across her face, at the fact that Subaru had managed to stay strong and persevere through it all.

Beatrice had similar thoughts and feelings, as the other two closest women to Subaru's heart. Watching her contractor literally be ripped apart before her eyes, was perhaps the most soul crushing site she had ever experienced, yet despite experiencing such a brutal death it did not shatter his resolve, in fact to her it seem to only strengthen it, proving to the great spirit that her contractor was truly someone special, as well as confirming that she had made the right choice, in choosing him as her contractor and friend.

Otto after what he had witnessed, now finally understood his friend Subaru on the level he never thought possible, it all made sense to him now, why Subaru never let his friends take the weight of his burdens, always carrying it all himself, even if it slowly crushed his soul into dust. The grey head merchant couldn't help the feel his eyes beginning to leak salty tears, which quickly gave way to a full on waterfall of tears, as Otto thought of all of the hardships and suffering his friend had gone through, never been able to tell anyone about it because of the return by death taboo, forcing him to carry it all on her shoulders, that's something else that made the grey head merchant cry even harder, was the fact that Subaru despite the weight on his shoulders never gave up, never letting the suffering break his will to keep moving forward.

While his grey-haired brother cried silently to himself, Garfiel surprisingly was completely stone-faced, simply staring at the now dark screen, as if it was continuing to show him, something that only he could see, meanwhile inside the beast Boy's brain, a singular thought consumed his mind, and that was a deep unyielding sense of disgust at himself. he had killed one of his closest friends. . . No! he had killed one of his brothers, and almost done the same to another, as well as killing many other innocent people, who were only protecting Subaru from him . . .

Garfiel's face suddenly scrunched up, as a searing pain suddenly flared in his hand, looking down he noticed that, he clenched his fist so hard that they had long since turned white, with blood beginning to leak from between his knuckles. Garfiel slowly unclench his fists, watching as the blood began to freely flow, from the puncture wounds caused by his sharpened talon like fingernails, as he continued to watch the blood slowly leak from the wounds, Subaru's words from the Sanctuary came back to his mind, and remembering those words. Garfiel realise that if Subaru could forgive him, then maybe he could one day forgive himself. Garfiel despite the pain, clenched his fists, a look of determination spreading across his face, and in that moment, he made a promise to himself. and his brother Subaru that no matter what, he would make up for what he had done at the Sanctuary, even if it meant giving up his own life to do so.

Despite Ram not sharing the positive opinion of Subaru, unlike much the rest of the Emilia camp, even she couldn't deny that what she had seen, had changed her view on the black-haired nasty eyed boy. Admittedly, though not to anyone around her mind that, she doubted that even she couldn't remain sane, experiencing half of the horror and torment that Subaru had after coming to their world.

And finally, Roswaal, despite not holding any affection for the young boy, can't help but feel some sympathy, at what the young man had been through, though the biggest shock to the clown face magician, was the exact nature of Subaru's looping ability. Roswaal had always been under the impression, that Subaru can activate this ability at will. But with the reveal that it only activated upon Subaru's death, and the Subaru himself had no control over the ability, was quite a shock to everyone, but for Roswaal thinking back on it, everything made sense now. In fact, the clown faced magician, kicked himself mentally at how obvious the answer was, yet even he didn't see it.

Everyone else outside the Emilia camp, had similar thoughts running through their heads, some notable examples being Julius and Reinhard. Julius after witnessing what Subaru had truly been through, couldn't help but regret his past actions, particularly at the Royal selection, because now with the context of what Subaru was going through at the time, Julius felt a sickly horrible feeling at the fact that he had beaten up a man. . . no a close friend, that was practically on the verge of insanity, because of what he had experienced prior. In fact, Julius made a vowel to himself and Subaru, that the next time Subaru was awake, Julius would beg for forgiveness for everything, and try and be a better friend to the strong-willed young boy.

Reinhard despite to looking completely fine from the outside, was practically having a mental breakdown on the inside, at the fact that his closest friend had gone through so much torture and torment. That even if Reinhard knew about the time, there was not a single thing he could have done about it. In fact, Reinhard felt the familiar feeling of disgust rising from the pit of his stomach, disgust at himself that despite all of the power he possessed, he could not help one of his closest friends, in fact despite what everyone said, Reinhard was no hero, it was Subaru that was the true hero. Reinhard simply had unmeasurable power, while Subaru had the will of a true hero, always helping his friends, facing deadly challenges head on despite having a lack of any notable combat power.

Crusch Kersten, also had a myriad of thoughts and feelings running through her mind, one of the primary thoughts was how it all made sense now with the context she had been given, Subaru's seeming ability to perfectly predict the moves of the White Whale and the witch's cult, was something she hadn't given much thought at the time, though admittedly strangers it was, she had disregarded it in the heat of battle choosing to think about it later, but now with the reveal of return by death, and all of the horrifying gut-wrenching context, it all made terrifying sense to her now.

Crusch also couldn't suppress the guilt that she felt, because of what her past self had done to Subaru in refusing to help him, her blatant refusal to help him, had practically destined him to die at the hands of the White Whale and witch's cult. And despite her not remembering the interaction that she had seen on screen. Her on-screen counterpart's words, still cut much deeper than she would have liked to admit, but the part she found most revolting about the entire situation and herself, was the fact that she would have done the exact same thing as her on-screen counterpart, without a second thought.

But she, much like a certain purple haired Knight, made a promise... no made a vow, to treat Subaru as a better ally, and try and make up for her past transgressions that had caused him untold suffering.

Wilhelm, much like his grandson Reinhard, outwardly look very calm, but on the inside his mind was a torrent of emotions over what he had seen. when he first met Subaru, there was something about the young man's gaze, that told the aged swordsman, that he had seen and experience, true torment, and suffering. The kinds of events that, Wilhelm knew from personal experience, that could change a man on a fundamental level.

But now, with the context of Subaru's return by death ability, Wilhelm felt his sympathy for the young man skyrocket, the horror and suffering that Subaru had experienced, was something that the old man would have not wished on even his worst enemy. But Wilhelm also felt a great amount of pride in Subaru, for the fact that he had managed to overcome such colossal barriers, never giving up on his goal and always pushing forward, regardless of how much pain it caused him.

Well, now that that's over, I suppose it's time we move on to something else then?

The unfamiliar yet paradoxically familiar voice, calls out from the black screen, causing everyone to feel a chill run up and down the spine

"Wait. . . there's more for us to see" Emilia instinctively, brought her sleeping knight closer to her chest, wrapping him up in a tight hug, as if forming an impenetrable shield to protect him from the world.

"Do we really have to witness more, I don't think I can take much more of this" Julius, surprisingly was the second one to respond to the strange voice, perfectly summing up what everyone felt, in just those simple words.

"I must agree with sir Knight Julius, we must have witnessed all we can regarding Subaru's journey, surely not?" Wilhelm's calm and smooth voice, questioned the notion of them needing to see any more of Subaru's journey, and plus Wilhelm wasn't quite sure that even he could watch his, for lack of a better term "surrogate grandson" go through anymore possible horrific events. Just watching Subaru be devoured by the great rabbit, hearing his agonising screams for someone to save him, was enough to almost break the old man, in a way that not much had, since the death of his wife many years ago.

Well of course

As some people would say, the night is still young, and there's so much still to do

Plus. . . I have something extra special, for you to watch now

It was only now that everyone noticed the voice, was different from the last time, instead of being a hoarse raspy voice, with a sadistic edge, it sounded much more energetic and lively, and arguably even sounded excited.

"What are you going to have us watch now, I suppose" Beatrice responded with an annoyed huff, sounding somewhat tired, with her voice lacking its usual energy, but despite that, everyone else in the theatre could agree with her sentiment, just wanting this entire ordeal to be over.

"Yeah! let cap wake up, and send us back already!" Garfiel snarled, at the faceless voice, raising his other non-injured fist in a show of aggression, however instead of being pushed back into his seat by unknown Force, like had happened before, instead, a low chuckle reverberated throughout the theatre, shaking everyone in their seats, as the almost sinister sounding laughter washed over them.

I'm sorry to say tiger boy, that you're all not going anywhere just yet . . . not until I'm done that is

Despite this voice not sounding outright hostile like the previous one, there was undeniably a dark undertone to its words, that made even the most powerful people in the room shiver slightly in their seats.

"So. . . does that mean we are watching more of Subaru's journey?" Reinhard managing to get himself under control for a moment, responded to the faceless voice, silently praying to whatever deity was listening, that he wouldn't have to watch Subaru suffer any more than he already had.

The voice did not immediately respond leaving everyone in uncomfortable silence that seemed to last forever, before the mysterious voice smoke again.

Well, sword saint, the answer is yes and no

Many in the audience gave a snort / huff, while the remainder gave a look of confusion, at the non-answer the voice had just given the almighty sword saint.

"I would appreciate, it if you could give us a straightforward answer, instead of a non-answer like that" Crusch crossed her arms over her chest disappointingly, not appreciating the sword Saint, had been completely written off with non-answer to his question.

"Yeah! stop being so cryptic, and just tell us the answer already!" Felt shouted, seemingly at the end of her rope when it came to the strange games, the voice was playing with all of them.

Again, instead of a response silence only prevailed, as if the mysterious voice was thinking of the correct thing to say.

Man, you're all no fun, so fine whatever I'll tell you just a little bit

What I'm going to show you is Subaru's future

Or more specifically, the future that could come to pass, if certain actions from this point forward are taken

Everyone looked on confused, Possible future? Certain events from now? everyone couldn't help but rack their brains, trying to figure out what exactly the voice was talking about, even Roswaal with his multiple lifetimes of collective knowledge and almost superhuman intellect, struggled to make sense about what the voice but exactly referring to.

"Wait a moment . . . if I've gotten this correct, you are not going to be showing us young Subaru's past the journey, but his future one?" Wilhelm's question breaking the confused silence that hung over the entire room, causing everyone to look at him for a moment, in hopeful anticipation of the voice answering.

Well, it seems that the sword demon's intellect, is just as formidable as his combat prowess

but yes, sword demon, you are correct

What I am going to show you is Subaru definite future or maybe it's a possible future, or maybe again it's all just made up by me, to trick all of you

The exact nature of what I'm about to show you, and whether it's real or imaginary, is entirely for you to decide.

"Subaru's future. . ." Emilia instinctively pulled her sleeping Knight deep into her embrace, her mind racing a mile a minute, thinking of all of the infinite possibilities that Subaru's future could be. but her mind always went back to a certain future, a more romanticized future involving a certain half-elf. Emilia felt her cheeks got a deep shade of red as that fought raced through her mind, imagining elaborate scenarios, about what her and her knight's possible future could be.

Sitting next to Emilia, a certain blue haired oni, had similar thoughts racing through her mind, as her cheeks also took on a deep shade of red, her own romanticised fantasy involving the nasty eyed boy flash before her eyes.

Beatrice's mind also filled with a myriad of different thoughts, about what Subaru's future could be. But the more she thought, the more she realised, that no matter what awaited in Subaru's future, she and him would face it together. Creating a lifetime of memories for her to cherish, just like he had promised.

The other royal candidates such as Anastasia and Priscilla , simply sat back in their chairs, waiting for the screen to flicker to life, Priscilla in particular at this point was just done with it all, simply reclining in her chair and waiting for the viewing to be over, so she could go back to the real world, and go about her business

Anastasia on the other hand, despite not having any affection for Subaru in the slightest, was at least interested in what his future could possibly be, considering the amount he had accomplished only being in their world for such a short time.

Julius after hearing that they were going to be seen Subaru's future, couldn't help but let out a reassured sigh, giving a silent pray to the great sage and the great dragon. That his friend's future would be full of bright happy moments, instead of the twisted misery and horror. that they had witnessed so far.

Reinhard had similar thoughts to the purple haired knight, desperately hoping and praying that Subaru's future, would be a happy and bright one, instead of one filled with misery and torment.

"Why do I get the feeling, that this is not going to be good" Otto's nervous voice rang out like a cannon blast, shattering the awkward but peaceful silence that overtaken the room, the nervous merchant suddenly found himself on the receiving end of multiple glares, causing him to nervously sink further into his seat.

"Wait! so we're going to see Caps future. . ." Garfiel loud voice shattered the silence for a second time, though unlike his grey-haired brother, he did not waver at the glares that they sent his way.

"hell yeah that's so cool! I bet cap will be a king or something important like that!" Garfiel shouted energetically, his voice reverberating around the theatre, and despite his overly loud voice, completely ridding the room of any peaceful silence that was remaining. all of the members of the Emilia camp, couldn't help but share the young beast boy's sentiment, and while everyone else in the theatre had their own ideas on what exactly he would be, but one thing that did unified all of their thoughts, was that Subaru no matter what he did in the future, would be someone of great importance no matter what.

Well, now that I've got all of your attention I suppose it's time we begin. . .

Actually! on second thought, why don't we begin with a small teaser, at what we are going to be watching

Just give me a moment to get everything prepared for you

The room fell back into silence, although this silent was accompanied by a much more comfortable atmosphere than the previous one, with everyone in the room excluding a few, very interested to see what Subaru's future would be like. Everyone had their own thoughts about what it would be, some thought that he would become a powerful Royale Knight, in service to the kingdom and it's potential future ruler, others thought that he would become a powerful magic user, possibly even living up to the mysterious and ambiguous title of Sage candidate. Some of the younger members of the audience, couldn't help imagining their Big Brother Subaru as some kind of powerful superhero, saving innocent people left right and centre. And the final group of people, who were comprise the people that have no affection for the boy, or outright distained for his existence, like a certain pompous red-headed royal candidate, had a myriad of different thoughts regarding the future of the young man.

Ram imagine that his future would be filled with perversion and debauchery. Anastasia had no exact idea what his future could be like, but suspected that on matter what it was, he would be someone of great importance in the future of the Kingdom, and finally the mastermind behind Subaru suffering, Roswaal simply sat back in his chair, waiting to see if all of his planning that despite being derailed at the Sanctuary, could possibly pay off, in moulding Subaru into the type of man clown face magician need him to be.

well I've got it all set up now

So without any further ado sit back boys and girls, and also hold on to your seats, because this one's going to be a real killer

the screen flicked to life once again, but instead of showing anything familiar, it showed nothing but an inky black void. that for some inexplicable reason, made everyone in the audience feel especially uncomfortable, but none of them could place exactly why.

"What is this I suppose?" Beatrice was the first to respond, as the strange scene played on the screen in front of her. despite having read every book from the forbidden library, she could not make heads or tails of what she was looking at, yet for some unexplainable reason, the more she looked at the kinky black voice that consumed the screen, the more she felt uncomfortable.

"Why is the screen just black, I thought we were watching Subaru's future . . ." Emilia's quiet voice rang out, as she held the sleeping boy in her embrace, also being assaulted by the strange eerie uncomfortable feeling, that seem to emanate from the inky black screen.

"I don't like this already" Crusch's voice reminder low and quiet, as she turned her head slightly to look at Wilhelm, who looked back at her, with the look that can only be described as saying I feel the same. but another reason why her voice remained quiet, pause because much like everyone else, she also felt incredibly uneasy, but unlike everyone else, this feeling was much more personal somehow, as if she was the one that the feeling was directed at, and everyone else was simply collateral damage. In fact the green haired royal candidate couldn't help but squirm in her chair slightly, which somehow the feeling seem to pick up on, causing the uncomfortable eerie feeling, to turn into something more akin to dread.

however, the inky black void that consumed the screen did not last very long, as the camera panned down revealing a planet suspended in the black void, being backlit by its parent star, giving the entire scene a serenely majestic but eerie feeling

Everyone couldn't help but feel their Jaws dropped slightly at the site that was presented before them, however out of all of them Reinhard was perhaps the one that felt his mouth hitting the floor quickest, ever since he was a child he had always been fascinated by the stars and constellations. In fact despite not having a chance to indulge and those interests as an adult, Reinhard could fondly remember the time that him and Subaru actually talked about the constellation and stars. Specifically, about the fact that the constellations from Subaru's world were different, Subaru had also told him about space as well, a place of weightlessness and nothingness where the stars resided, that at the time had ignited Reinhard imagination. But to actually get to see space was something that Reinhard would cherish forever, in spite of the uncomfortable feeling that the images were giving him and everyone else.

"The hell is this, got to do with Cap?" Garfiel's voice echo throughout the theatre, putting into words what everyone was thinking, when it came to the subject of a certain sleeping boy, and how exactly what they was seeing related to him.

"I'm not sure, but I don't like where this is going already" Julius's voice following up Garfiel's, as he was also assaulted by the strange eerie feeling, that was emanating from the screen. the purple haired Knight couldn't explain why, but he also felt a strange almost of bread like feeling beginning to build his chest, as if something bad was about to happen.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..." the distorted eerie voice was accompanied by a change in the scene, it quickly zooming in on the planet, or more specifically an object that was orbiting the planet.

Saying that everyone was extremely unnerved by the distorted singing voice, would be like saying the White Whale was just a little bit dangerous, the singing made everyone's hair stand up on the back of their necks, even people like Priscilla and Roswaal, couldn't suppress shivers running up and down their spines as the voice sang its song. But perhaps out of everyone the person that was the most uncomfortable / terrified of The Voice, was none other than the green haired royal candidate Crusch Kersten herself, who hearing the first words from the distorted voice, felt her face doing a very good impression of freshly fallen snow. however there was one thing that disturbed her the most, and that was the fact that despite all of the distortion in the voice it sounded eerily like her own.

"W-What is that little O-O-object, near that glowing ball, I S-Suppose" Beatrice's stuttering voice broke the extremely uncomfortable silence that had overtaken everyone, her question about the rapidly growing object, in front of the planet providing everyone's mind.

"I don't know, I've ever seen anything like it before" Emilia who was holding on the to her sleeping night, as if he would disappear at any moment, responded to the great spirit. Her poor half-elf mind, trying and failing to make sense of what she was hearing and seeing on the screen in front of her, and how related to the sleeping boy wrapped up in her arms.

"H-H-honestly how does this relate to B-Barusu's future, so far it seems like a bunch of meaningless nonsense to me" Despite Ram's words, everyone couldn't help but notice the obvious stutter at the beginning of her sentence, indicating to everyone especially her sister, that she was just as unnerved as everyone else about what was going on, yet her words did whole some truth behind them, mostly because everyone still couldn't figure out, exactly how this related to the sleeping black-haired boy, that was in the theatre with them.

"Subaru. . . what trouble did you get yourself in this time" Rem's voice was quiet and a hush, as she clasped her hands in front of her chest, hoping that whatever was happening on screen and how exactly related to Subaru, that he would at least be safe.

"When the Blazing sun is gone, when the nothing shines upon..." the camera moves closer to the object as the voice continues to sing, the object was now revealed to be that of a hulking spacecraft, floating calmly in the void of space, there were no lights on the spacecraft, the only source of illumination being distant light of the star. Causing many of the protrusions on the spacecraft, to cast long and eerie looking shadows upon itself.

Even will the strange object now fully in view of the camera, nobody could make heads or tails of what it even was, let alone it's true functions, even Beatrice, who had learnt a lot about Subaru's home world, from examining his memories during sleep, still didn't know what she was looking at.

"What is that thing?" Felt's voice rang out quietly, not expecting an answer from anyone sitting around her, and even if anyone was inclined to answer the blonde royal candidate, they most likely wouldn't have, considering that half of the people in the audience remain firmly creeped out by the entire sequence, and the distorted voice that continue to sing it's haunted and twisted sounding lullaby.

"Crusch, are you alright?" Felix's effeminate voice, made his presence known next to the greenhead duchess, who despite giving a slight jolt, didn't respond or acknowledge the catboy in question, which only served to worry him, because from the way she was gripping the armrests of her chair, and the face she was making, he could tell right away that she looked absolutely petrified.

At the back of the audience a certain helmeted Knight, still had his jaw firmly planted on the ground. Aldebaran had certainly seen some interesting things regarding his fellow earthling, however this was something completely unexpected even for Subaru, because apparently this was supposed to be a future version of the black haired boy, meaning that at some point in the future, Subaru would be transported to a different World again, or maybe it was the same world in the far future?. Al couldn't say for certain which was the correct answer, but he knew for one thing, that they weren't being shown space and a spaceship for no reason, considering it all had to connect back to the sleeping black-haired boy in some way.

"W-W-what are the name of the dragon is that?" a certain half elf's nervous voice made itself known, her question much like a certain blonde royal candidate, seem to be directory more at herself than anyone.

"It's a ship designed to fly through space, in other words a spaceship" a voice sounded that haven't been heard in quite a while, causing everyone including the half petrified Crusch to turn and look at its source, only to reveal that it was Priscilla's helmeted Knight Aldebaran, that had identified the mysterious object on screen.

"A ship. . . that flies in S-Space?" Emilia seems to test the strange word on her tongue, she had never seen a ship in person, but had read about them extensively, in the many books that Roswaal had provided to her during her education to become a role candidate. But ships couldn't fly from what she remembered, and there was the whole idea of this thing called space, something that she couldn't quite understand, which she wasn't alone in.

"Could you please elaborate for us sir Knight Aldebaran, I'm afraid I and others don't follow" Wilhelm expressed to the helmeted night, wanting an explanation on this "space-ship" and how it could possibly relate to his surrogate grandson.

"Well this is going to be hard to explain to you but let's start with space. Space is an area that is above the sky and the heavens, so far above the sky that it's impossible to see. As for a spaceship, it's as the name suggests, it's a ship that is designed to operate in space, which has no air to breathe meaning the ship is completely enclosed, to make sure it's occupants won't die from the lack of breathable air" Al finished his explanation, which good seem to help somewhat, but also left everyone with an unyielding curiosity, about what such an environment and such a ship was really like.

"I see, thank you for your explanation sir Knight Aldebaran, but I still question, what this has to do with young Subaru exactly" Wilhelm directed his attention to the sleeping boy, that was family wrapped in the half else arms, giving him a look that could almost be described as maternal worry.

"it beats me I'm afraid old man, but not everyone can go to space, which I could guess means that Subaru is someone special" the helmeted knight gave a shrug of his shoulders, which the sword demon couldn't help feel a bit disappointed at the answer, however at the mention of Subaru having to be special to go to space, caught his and everyone else is interest despite the unsettling feeling that was still plaguing everyone.

"Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night" the view then changed again, revealing one of the many nondescript hallways that ran throughout the massive space vessel, just a barely audible over the distorted voice, was a harsh scratching sound, as if something with sharp claws was crawling along a metal surface. The camera proceeded to travel up the length of the hallway, scratches and gouges mixed with blood and viscera ever-present. the soon camera came to rest on the door, with a glowing red circle with the word LOCKED emblazoned in bold letters.

As the view changed to something a bit more familiar but still somehow holy alien, the more observant members of the audience, couldn't help for take notice of the obvious struggle that had taken place in the hallway, with many alien looking objects of unknown functions scattered across the hallway. but the thing that caught everyone's attention immediately was the amount of blood splattered across the walls and floor, and the more the camera lingered on the hallway, it became obvious that it was not just one person's blood given its abundance and concentration.

Then there was the issue of the strange of a worldly scratching noise, that was barely audible underneath the distorted singing, however as quickly as the sound came it vanish leaving only by distorted echoes of the singing voice.

"By the Dragon. . ." was all the sword saint could say, as a singular word came to his mind about what he was seeing.

"It's. . . a massacre" Julius's shocked voice, put into words exactly what Reinhard was thinking as well as many other people in the audience

"Or more precisely, the aftermath of one I suppose" Beatrice's matter-of-fact tone betraying just how unnerved she was, at obvious aftermath of such a brutal massacre, and more precisely the implications that is implied, for a certain sleeping black-haired boy.

Said boy was currently wrapped up in the arms of a silver haired half elf, who was holding onto him so tight, that if she and him were in the real world right now, his entire ribcage would probably be nothing more than powdered bone.

"Subaru, please be safe. . ." was all Emilia could say, as she gently place the kiss on the sleeping boys forehead, already resigning herself to the fact that the future they were witnessing, based on what she had seen so far was not going to be a bright and happy one, for her sleeping knight.

"Sister. . .?" Rem failed to reach her pink haired sister, as she continued to stare at the screen as if trying to boot a hole in it with her eyes alone, a moment Rem it's confused that why her sister was acting like this, then she remembered, the blood and go in the hallway must have reminded her of the time, when their village was attacked. This wasn't something that was new either, whenever Ram would see a lot of blood or other indications of injury, she would go into a trance-like state and almost completely shut down, as if her mind had suddenly been switched off. Rem quickly took her sister's hand, clenching it tight, which despite her sister being almost non-responsive, seem to reciprocate the gesture. Her sisters grip slowly increasing, until her own hand was beginning to ache from the pressure that has sister was exerting on it. But even then she did not falter, and simply gritted the small amount of pain, as her sister had this strange moment.

"Reinhard, is Big Br going to be alright?" Felt's quiet voice broke the sword Saint out of his stupor, causing him to look at the blonde haired royal candidate sitting next to him. Reinhard thought long and hard, on how to answer the young royal candidate, but the more he thought, the more he realised that he didn't have a satisfactory answer.

"I. . . don't know lady Felt" was all the Sword Saint could say in response to his royal candidate. Felt look top of the red headed sword saint for moment, before doing something that surprised him and herself, she reached out and grabbed his hand, wrapping her tiny Fingers around his, this surprised Reinhard, looking down at his royal candidates in surprise. Felt could not bring herself to smile, but her look told the sword saying everything he needed to know, no matter what they were going to see, they would hold fast, and stay strong for their friend.

Meanwhile near the back of the audience, a certain purple haired royal candidate, found herself examining the strange looking door that was now be main focus of the screen, examining all of it intricately machined parts, that she guess the part of it's locking mechanism, as well as the strange looking glowing panel that read "locked"

"The craftsmanship on the doors locking mechanism is exquisite" Anastasia's voice was quiet, as her discussed at the scene in front of her, was almost completely overpowered by her unyielding curiosity about the door and its exquisitely crafted locking mechanism.

Despite her voice being quiet, Anastasia's vexation over the door, calls everyone else in the audience to look at the door with a mixture of confusion and worry, however a certain green haired royal candidate felt her go through the roof, upon laying eyes on the door, something in her gut told her that opening that door was a very bad idea.

"Please for the love of the Dragon. . . Don't open that door" Crusch's quiet and shaky voice made itself known to everyone, causing most people in the audience to look at her in confusion and surprised, at the fact that the greenhead duchess had just expressed fear, which to most people that know her was something that she almost never expressed.

"Then the traveler in the dark, Thanks you for your little spark. . . He could not see which way to go, you did not twinkle so" the locked door suddenly opens, with a loud mechanical sound, almost drowning out the distorted singing voice. The open doorway now reveals a completely black hallway, with only a single light at the very end, standing in front of this singular light source seems to be the silhouette of a person hunched over as if they were in great pain.

"In the dark sky you keep, And often though my curtains peep. . . for you never shut your eye, Till the sun is in the sky" the camera slowly makes its way up the hall, inching closer to the dark silhouette, as the distorted voice continues to sing.

Everyone practically jumped out of their seats, as the loud harsh mechanical noise of the door, boom from the theatre's speakers, Felt practically jumped into Reinhart's arms, cleaning to him so tight, that the sword Saint was positive if he was a normal person he would have had several crush ribs by now.

A similar action was done by Petra, who also jumped into the arms of Federica, the blonde-haired beast woman, whispering sweet nothings into the young girls ear to try and calm her down.

"Humph! all of you are hopeless I suppose" Beatrice's voice sounded as smug and condescending as ever, yet everyone especially the people sit in closest to her could see the slight tremble in her hands, indicating that the door opening had caught her off guard just as much as everyone else.

"The hell is that thing, in the hallway?" Garfiel's slightly shaky voice, quickly made everyone forget about the door, and instead focus our attention on the silhouette that was now at the end of the dark hallway.

Nobody said anything as the camera continues to pan up the hallway getting ever closer to the dark ominous figure.

"I think. . . this is going to end badly" Otto terrified and shaky voice made itself known, and surprisingly for once nobody directed any kind of attention his way. But despite not acknowledging him they could all agree with his words, whatever the dark silhouette was everyone could feel that finding out probably wasn't the best course of action.

Crusch at this point was practically hyperventilating, which worried several of the people sitting near her, in particular Felix and Wilhelm had gotten up from their seats to try and calm down the green haired duchess, but no matter what they try she'd seemed to not to respond, simply repeating no and please stop over and over.

"Sir knight Felix, is there anything you can do to help lady Crusch!?" Wilhelm's slightly frantic voice, found its way to the catboy in question, who was trying every form of healing magic he could think of, to try and help his beloved mistress, but to his growing sense of dread nothing seemed to work, as she continued to ramble like a mad woman.

"I've tried everything, I can, but nothing's working damn it!" Felix's strange speech pattern have long since disappeared, as he smashed one of the armchair rests with his fist, his frustration making itself known to everyone in the local vicinity.

Meanwhile at the front of the audience most of the Emilia camp sat in an uneasy silence, as the surreal and ominous scene continue to play, Ram was only now recovering from her strange episode, while Rem despite the pain in her hand from having it compressed, did not let go of her sister's hand. She herself wasn't paying full attention to the on-screen events, but when the dark silhouette had been revealed at the end of the hall. She could have sworn for just a split second, someone had whispered in her ear. Causing her to look over her shoulder in surprise, only to see nothing but rows of empty seats and the other theatres occupants behind her.

"Damn little bro, what did you get yourself into this time" Al voice was slightly muffled by his helmet, as he like everyone else waited with a powerful sense of dread. To him it seems like the camera was almost sentient, seeming to almost play on the typical cliche, of the camera moving towards an unknown object slowly, to try and draw out as much suspense as possible. In fact despite the current situation, the helmeted Knight couldn't help her feel just a little bit nostalgic, because the situation almost reminded him of when he would watch movies with his friends when he was younger.

Anastasia's previous enthusiasm about the door and it's locking mechanism, had been completely washed away with the reveal of the dark figure at the end of a dark hallway, in fact the purple haired girl couldn't help but grabbed one of her knight's trying to seek some sort of comfort and reassurance from him, to which Julius reciprocated feeling just as unnerved as everyone else was, about what was going on.

Julius looked at his royal candidate, about to say something to try and reassure the obviously uncomfortable young lady, however as he was about to speak, he caught something in the corner of his vision, that been a brief flash of purple. Turning his head in the direction of the disruption. Julius for the briefest of moments could have sworn he saw a young purple haired boy, standing at the very back of the theatre staring at him. but when the purple knight blinked, the boy was gone as if he never there to begin with.

"As your bright and tiny spark, Lights the traveler in the dark. . ." the camera comes to rest on the dark silhouette, only inches away from it, suddenly the lights in the hallway flicker to life, causing everyone in the audience the jump, however instead of being presented with Horrors unknown. The silhouette is revealed to be that of a child, staring directly into the camera with expressionless eyes. the child himself looks very out of place, in the dark and industrial hallway, wearing a simple dark blue shirt and orange pants, his head topped with a hair of almost dark green hair, and his face was very familiar in some way, his eyes in particular having a very sharp look to them, yet nobody could quite place why they look so familiar.

Almost everyone in the theatre jumped out of their seats, at the dark hallway being illuminated so suddenly, Petra held onto Frederica for dear life, letting out quite a loud scream as she buried her face into the blonde haired the beast woman's chest. But unlike last time Frederica could not whisper sweet nothings into the young girls here, as she had herself let out a scream of terror, clutching the young girl even tighter to her chest, as if she was some kind of comfort or stress toy.

Emilia likewise nearly jumped out of her seat when the lights flickered on, the sudden movements nearly sending the sleeping Subaru tumbling to the floor. If not for the quick reflexes of a certain blue haired oni, who caught the sleeping boy in her arms, much to the relief of the half elf, as she tried to get her breathing and heart rate under control again.

Otto and Garfiel quickly jumped into each other's arms, both screaming like little girls, Witch in any other circumstance would have gotten a chuckle out of most people in the audience, but unfortunately their terror was shared by everyone.

Crusch, Felix's reactions were much the same as the Emilia camp, the only exception being Wilhelm who was only mildly surprised by the quick lighting change.

Julius, Anastasia, Priscilla and even Al what all caught off guard by the sudden change in lighting, with Anastasia's reaction perhaps being the most extreme, with her literally jumping into the arms of her purple haired Knight. and finally Roswaal despite not giving any visible reaction, was also caught off guard by the lights flickering on so suddenly.

"Damn a jumpscare really!?" Al's muffled shout, drew most everyone's attention to him, however before any of them could say anything, they finally noticed that the dark silhouette in the hallway of now been revealed to the entire audience.

"Is that. . . a child?" Reinhard's voice was the first to make itself known, as he much like everyone else was quite surprised to see that the dark ominous silhouette was revealed to be that of a child. however the sword saint suddenly realised, why would a child be in such a dark and industrial looking place? a line of questioning that was shared by everyone else in the audience.

"What the hell is a kid doing a place like that?" the confusion was just as powerful as the terror in Felt's voice, as she still held onto the red headed sword saint for dear life.

"He. . . looks familiar somehow?" Emilia's voice was the next to respond, looking at the child on screen there was something undeniably familiar about him, his eyes in particular were striking and sharp looking, which made Emilia immediately think of a certain black-haired boy who was currently being shared between her and a certain blue-haired oni.

"You're right I suppose, He does indeed look familiar somehow?" Beatrice didn't know why exactly, but for some inexplicable reason, she felt a distant connection to the boy, as if she had known him or known someone that was related to him which just serves to confuse the great spirit.

"You're both right, Great spirit and young Emilia, the boy is indeed very familiar somehow" Wilhelm's even and smooth voice reached the great spirit and young half elf. the aged sword master was quite surprised, to see that the dark and ominous silhouette was that of a child. But while others took notice of the child sharp looking eyes, Wilhelm took notice of the unmistakable dark green head of hair the child possessed, the colour of which immediately made him think of his mistress lady Crusch, for a moment age swordsman thought about the one feature between the boy and his mistress, but the more he thought, the more his face turned bone white, as realisation about the boy hit him like a fully loaded freight train.

Meanwhile Crusch was completely mesmerized by the boy on screen, she didn't know him from what she could remember, but something in the very depths of her soul, told her that this boy was related to her in some way. For a moment the green haired duchess examine the boys features, her eyes tracing the shape of his jaw and his remarkable sharp looking eyes. But the more she examined the boy's features, the more her eyes widened in horror as realisation struck her like a tonne of bricks, causing fresh tears to begin to leak from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Though I know not what you are, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. . ." the camera slowly begins to pan back down the hallway, only now revealing the absolute horror that was the hallway, there was blood and viscera everywhere, half mutilated corpses lining the hallway as if they were sick decorations, the camera lingers on one of the courses for a moment, what would have been a young female in life was now barely recognisable as a human being, the only recognisable feature on her mutilated face being her cold lifeless eyes staring into the camera. as the camera finally exits the hallway for a brief moment there was another silhouette behind the boy, this being a strange double helix shape, with seemingly glowing markings embedded into it's dark shadow. However, before any more examination can take place, the door to the hallway is slam shut, the glowing panel now a sickly orange colour reading DOOR MALFUNTION, the camera quickly cuts to outside the spacecraft, slowly retreating from it and panning out to the dark cold depths of space, as a different more childlike voice is heard.

"Daddy. . . make us whole"

The Gruesome state of the hallway being revealed was a shock to many, during all of the previous viewings, some of Subaru's more gruesome deaths had truly been gut-wrenching, both in the emotional and physical sense his death to the great rabbit being a particularly notable example. But the mutilated corpses that line the hallway, were somehow even worse than what the great rabbit have done to Subaru. Julius was the first of many to feel an absolutely nauseating feeling overtake him, after a moment of trying to keep it in the purple haired Knight failed to hold it in, emptying the contents of his stomach all over the theatre's carpet. This action was followed by Felix emptying the contents of his own stomach much like Julius had, Wilhelm despite looking like he was not far from doing the same as the other two, only just managed to repress the urge to vomit at the gruesome scene that was presented before him. the same couldn't be said for Otto, who upon laying eyes on the mutilated corpses that were almost unrecognisable as being human, failed to repress the urge to empty his own stomach.

"B-B-by the D-D-dragon. . ." Frederica's pierce the silence like a cannon blast, as she only just about managed to resist the urge to vomit, while keeping Petra family pointed away from the unholy and Incredibly gruesome site that plastered the screen.

"I. . . don't think I can take much more of this" Priscilla 's voice made itself known for the first time since the viewing had begun, causing her knight Al to look over at parents surprised. Only to see that hidden behind her fan her face was one of complete and utter disgust, her cheeks taking on a slightly green hue, as she battles her own nausea that threatened to overtake her.

"Such ferocity. . . what has the power, to cause such carnage I wonder" Roswaal spoke for the first time since the viewing had begun, his unusual speech pattern being noticeably absent, as he pondered what have the power, to render these people to nothing more than decaying hunks of mutilated meat.

The screen faded to black, the young boys ominous words seemingly echoing throughout the theater long after the screen has turned black, but even as the echoes of his voice faded. The only sound that could be heard was the hacking and retching, from many members of the audience, several of them trying and failing to regain control of their stomachs, after witnessing such a gruesome scene. Many share the same thought, that being what kind of person or creature could mutilate someone, to the point where they didn't even look human, even the most vicious beasts were not capable of mutilating a living being to that extent. The battle-hardened members of the audience sounded especially disturbing, that whoever attacked the people in the hallway, have done it with pure killing intent and no mercy, meaning the deaths of those poor souls was most likely very painful and slow.

Rem felt the familiar burning sensation of bile beginning to rise up in her throat, as she tried to stop herself from vomiting as well, however a quiet but still audible thump caught her attention, looking over she was shocked and horrified to see her sister had unceremoniously fallen from her chair, landing on the floor in an unconscious heap. Rem's previous nausea was completely forgotten as she rushed to her sister's aid.

After a moment of examination, the blue haired oni let out a sigh of relief, at the fact that her sister had simply passed out, most likely because of the gruesome imagery that have been plastered on the screen moments ago. Rem gently repositioned her sister, so her head was resting comfortably on her lap, however in the corner of her eye she saw something, something that made her go as rigid as a board. In one of the farthest corners of the room just barely visible in the dim light, was a woman wearing a kimono. Rem snapped her head in the same direction and caught the briefest glimpse of the woman before she vanished, all of the colour in her face drained away as her breathing quickened, because what she had seen was not possible, because the person she saw had been dead for a long time.

"Make us whole. . .?" Emilia's uneasy voice broke the silence, her mind going back to the cryptic words that the young boy had spoken, that were seemingly addressed to his father.

"The hell does that mean!" Garfiel's loud cry followed up Emilia's soft and quiet voice, as he try to use his limited knowledge, to figure out the cryptic words that have been spoken.

"It kind of "cough" sounds like some kind "cough" of religious pray . . . or maybe a mantra?" Otto words were punctuated by coughs and sputters, as he tried to rid himself of the awful bile taste that remained of his tongue.

"You might be right merchant "cough" but whatever it was, it sounded especially ominous" Julius wiped away some of the remaining bile at the side of his mouth, wishing that he had some kind of beverage to get rid of the awful vomit taste that reminded his mouth.

"Whatever it was, the message was addressed to the boy's father, so I doubt we will know for certain I suppose" Beatrice's childlike voice lacked it's usual intensity, despite the fact that she was an artificial spirit, and therefore did not actually have a stomach. Even she felt nauseated at the sight of human beings rendered to nothing more than unrecognisable hunks of meat.

"Reinhard. . . W-what do you think those words meant?" Felt's nervous words failed to reach the red headed sword saint, as he seems to be in some kind of trance, his eyes following something only he could see. Felt's nervousness was quickly replaced with concern, as she shook Reinhard's arm, only to get no response at all, she tried again, this time seeming to break him out of his trance like state, and he turned his head to look at her in surprise.

"Reinhard are you ok? you just spaced out there!?" the sword saint to seem to think about her words for a moment, thinking back to the weird hallucination he just had. for a moment he thought he had seen his mother, standing in the darkness near one corner of the screen, before she turned away and disappeared from sight behind the corner of the screen.

"I'm. . . ok lady Felt" Reinhard finally responded, putting on one of his trademark smiles, which the Young Royal candidate didn't believe for a second, she had been around the sword Saint for long enough to know the he was lying, but she's also come to realise that trying to get the sword saint to express his true feelings all be truthful about them, was like trying to get blood from a stone. So letting out a quiet sigh, Felt gently grabbed ahold of one of his hands, giving it a reassuring squeeze, to which Reinhard was surprised for a moment before reciprocating the gesture in kind.

Well, that's certainly was fun now wasn't it everyone?

the mysterious voice returned again, it having an amused sound to it, as if making them see such horrifying gruesome scenes was enjoyable.

"Why. . . W-Why did you show us that, it was just. . . Just. . . so awful" Rem was the first to respond, her words stuttering slightly, as she recalled the awful imagery that had made her sister pass out and had made her sick to her stomach.

"Y-Yeah that stuff was just sick!" Garfiel's voice having an uneasy edge to it, which was a feeling that resonated with everyone.

"W-W-why show us that. . . what even was the point of all that torture!?" Crusch's voice shook with every word, as she tried to desperately to get a hold of herself, but thinking back to the realisation of the boys identity, cause fresh tears to begin to leak from her eyes, bringing a hand up to her mouth, trying to repress her own sobs. Felix placed a hand on his mistress shoulder. To which in between sobs she sent a look of thanks his way, but that didn't stop a deep sense of disgust forming in the cap boy's chest, at the fact that there was nothing he could do for his mistress, when it came to what was causing her such emotional turmoil.

For uncomfortable moment there was nothing but silence, as if the mysterious voice was thinking of the appropriate thing to say, everyone squirmed in their chairs the uncomfortable atmosphere growing by the second as the voice didn't respond, but after several tense seconds, they were greeted with an answer.

Well you could say that I was preparing you for what is to come

More precisely I was preparing you for IT

the amused tone had vanished from the voice, being replaced with a deadly seriousness, that made everyone especially on edge, what exactly did the voice mean by preparing them for it, when he had said earlier that they were going to be watching Subaru's future.

"Preparing us. . .?" The half elf instinctively clutched the sleeping boy in her arms even close to her chest, as the ominous freezing of the strange voice bounced around inside her head, causing her to think all of the possible bad possibilities at what the voice could be referring to.

"indeed, what eeeeexactly are you preparinnnnnng us for I wonder" Roswaal's unusual speech pattern broke the silence, causing quite a few to look at him in surprise, because he had been silent throughout much of the previous viewing, many had forgotten that the clown faced magician was even there to begin with.

"Yeah! I don't like agreeing with that clown but the hell are you preparing us for!? like for crying out loud! you said we would be watching Cap's future!, not. . . whatever the hell that was!" Garfiel's lips pulled back slightly revealing his razor-sharp teeth, as a very animalistic snarl made its way from his throat.

"I just want to go home already" the whimpering merchants cries were ignored by both his allies and the strange mysterious voice, as the voice responded to the queries posed to it

Well clown and tiger boy, I'm not at liberty to say exactly what I'm preparing you for , there are rules in place that even I have to follow

But I will say that what I'm preparing you for is something that, will shake you to your very core, something that will try to make its way in your mind and mess with you

It will make you see things that aren't there, remember things you don't want to remember,

Even with all of the power I possess I can't fully stop it effects

So that is why I prepared you, I gave you a small dose of what IT is capable of so you will know what you're in for

Everyone felt a shiver run up and down their spines, as the voice had a deadly seriousness to it, all the previous malicious amusement completely absent, as the words resonated with everyone, particularly three individuals. Rem, Julius and Reinhard all felt the exact same feeling when the voice had said it would make you remember things you don't want to remember, and that feeling was complete utter bewilderment mixed with a small amount of fear. For Rem and Reinhard in particular, both of them had seen something that brought back many unpleasant memories, while Julius had seen something that he's still didn't fully understand, because the person he had seen he did not recognise, despite him and his mystery person some common visual similarities such as hair colour and general face shape, which the more he thought about the more the purple haired knight felt even more confused by.

"We don't have a choice do we? . . . about watching this I mean" Emilia's voice broke the silence, causing many to look at her surprise, like everyone else who had a range of feelings from complete terror to other despair, the half elf had a face that could only be described as determination. Determination that no matter what horrors would come, she would sit and watch, not for her own but for Subaru's sake.

the half-elf continued to stare at the screen waiting for a response, her face seeming to harden even more. And despite there being no visible occupant, the screen seemed to stare back of a half elf as if both of them are locked into a serious staring contest, and finally after several tense seconds, the voice was the first to break metaphorical eye contact.

you be correct little elf, there is no way that you can get out of this

I'm glad to see back you are least, are holding yourself together

although I don't know how long considering what's to come

Despite the last part being quieter than the rest, everyone including the determined half-elf, couldn't help but feel incredibly intimidated by what for the voice was implying. It was talking as if something bad was definitely going to happen, which unnerved many in the audience. But at the same time the display of determination from the half elf, restore just a little bit of everyone's spirits, causing a great many in the audience to harden their gazes and hold their heads high, preparing for whatever horrors were about to be unleashed upon them.

well it's glad to see that you're all finally bouncing back

so why don't we get a roll call to see who's ready for this?

Many people turned to look at the people sitting next to them in confusion, before there was a silent collective agreement, that they were all ready for this no matter what was to come.

"Me, my mistress, and sir knight Felix are ready sir voice" Wilhelm answered in his lady's place, as she despite being much more stable than a few moments ago, simply didn't have the energy to talk, simply giving a nod that indicates that she was ready for what was to come.

"I can't say I'm excited for what's to come, but I suppose me and my mistress are also really" Julius was the next to respond, Anastasia giving a nod of agreement, as they prepared themselves both physically and mentally for whatever was about to come.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm ready. . . actually wait! could you give us like some popcorn or something, because man. . . I really can't remember the last time I had that teeth rotting stuff" Priscilla along with everyone else in the room, turned to look at the helmeted knight in complete bewilderment, any serious atmosphere that was in the room completely vanishing, as the ridiculous nature of his request was processed in everyone's mind. and judging by the change in atmosphere, it almost felt like even the mysterious voice was caught off guard by the nature of his request.

For a moment there was nothing but a very strange silence, as everyone continued to stare at the helmeted Knight, who despite having everyone looking at him as if he had grown a second head, didn't seem to care much about what everyone else thought about him, because after all when a man is hungry, he has to eat. Finally, after several awkward s the voice responded

Sure I guess? although you're probably going to regret that

As the voice spoke it's words, a red and white bucket seems to materialize out of thin air above Priscilla's helmeted Knight, landing in the man's hands, and despite his face not being visible his body language show that he was practically ecstatic about the strange bucket and the equally strange food that reside within it.

"Well I am ready, for whatever nonsense you were going to show us next" Priscilla's pompous and arrogant words caused everyone to let out a collective sigh, as despite seeing some of the most gruesome imagery possible it seems that some people just don't change.

"I and Petra are both ready to proceed" Frederica looked down at the young girl in her lap, who looked back at her with a look of confusion mixed with a small amount of fear. The blonde-haired beast woman gave a reassuring smile to be young girl, who reciprocated giving the blonde haired maid a uneasy but genuine smile.

"I'm with my sister, I'm ready for the hell you going to show us next, whether it be good or bad" Garfiel's face was a look of pure determination, despite his voice lacking its usual energy, he had to be strong for his captain, no matter what was going to be thrown at him.

"I'm ready!" Rem's quiet voice was practically dripping with determination, that's no matter what she would face what was coming head on for everyone especially her beloved sake.

"Oooooh Dragon. . . my head hurts" Ram's voice made its way to everyone's ears, causing many to look at her with a look of bewilderment and joy, at the fact that the pink haired oni had awoken from her gruesome imagery induced unconscious state. Rem looked down at her sister with a look of happiness to which confused Ram for a moment before she reciprocated, the twins interlocking their hands together, which caused quite a few people to smile at the sibling love on display.

"Humph! I haven't forgiven you for what you showed us moments ago, but I am also ready I suppose" Beatrice crossed her arms over her chest, giving a pout which caused her cheeks to puff out slightly, which caused the few to chuckle, and others to think that despite her being a great spirit she was incredibly cute sometimes, especially when she got angry or infuriated.

"I don't think I'm ready, but I have to stay strong for Subaru, it's the least I owe him for what I did in the past" Otto voice was full of nervousness like usual, however the silver head merchants face hardened with a look of determination. But he couldn't help think back to the horrible things that his past self had done to Subaru, a man that he now considered his brother, the Merchant was determined no matter what he would make up for those mistakes, even if it took an entire lifetime.

"Well I suppppppose it is time for us to begiiiiinnnn" Roswaal's unusual speech pattern send a shiver up everyone's spine, no one in the room had forgotten about the atrocious gut-wrenching things he had put Subaru through, but the clown faced magician did not care for what they thought. He had his own reasons why he had done the things he had done, and if he was putting the same situation, he would have done the exact same thing without a second thought. Nothing was too gruesome or heinous in the goal of resurrecting his beloved teacher after all.

"Subaru, please no matter what be safe. . ." Emilia whispered quietly into the sleeping boys ear, which to her surprise, her words cause the boys face to twitch ever so slightly, as if he had her words in whatever dream well he was currently residing in. breathing in and out to ready herself Emilia I'm looked at the screen with a look of complete conviction, that no matter what Horrors were waiting for her and her beloved Subaru she would face it head on for him.

"I'm ready!" with those words the screen flicker to life once more displaying nothing but pure white static as the voice spoke for the last time.

well then, I guess it's fine for the main event

The white static abruptly ceased, causing a few in the audience to jump in their seat slightly, however before any of them could comment on the slight scare, the screen changed to show a bluish static instead of the pure white that have been there previously. For a moment the noise of static was the only thing be heard through the theatre speakers, however a strange beeping sound began to play, Accompanied with text beginning to appear on the screen. Much of the text was completely incomprehensible to the cast, with it mentioning things that made no sense to anyone in the room, however listed under text reading primary mission assets, was a series of names one of which caught everyone's attention immediately.

...Zach Hammond - Chief security officer...

...Kendra Daniels - Computer system specialist...

...Subaru natsuki - Engineering and ship repair specialist...

"Wait. . . Subaru's an engineer? Emilia was the first to speak, as she thought about the implications of Subaru of all people being some kind of engineer. Despite being a royal candidate she was not well versed in the art of machines, but she knew from her limited reading on the subject, that engineers were perhaps some of the most skilled labourers in the world, so for her knight to have such a prestigious job in his future made the half elf feel especially prideful.

"Humph! as if bettys contractor skill was ever in doubt I suppose" Beatrice much like the half elf suffocating her contractor in her embrace, flet an immense amount of pride and satisfaction at the fact that her contractor, add achieved one of the most desirable occupations, that in terms of social standing was just below that of an artisan.

"To think that young Subaru has achieved such an occupation, especially one that allows him to work on ships of all things" the pride he felt for the young black-haired boy, was very prominent in wilhelm's voice, at the fact that his surrogate grandson had achieved such a role. Especially a occupation that allowed him to work on waterborne vessels, which was the set of skills that were considered perhaps the rarest in the world.

"That's my beloved for you, he can do anything if he puts his mind to it" Rem words were filled with love and affection for the black haired boy, as dreamy look came over to her face, causing her sister to let out a disappointed sigh, along with a certain half-elf, to turn and look at the blue haired oni, her stare trying to bore a hole through Rem's head.

"Subaru, it's me, I wish I could talk to you. . ." A new voice was heard, it was a unusually familiar female voice that sounded like she was in great distress.

"I'm sorry. . . sorry about everything, I wish I could just talk to someone. it's all falling apart here" At first all that could be seen was bluish-white static, but as the distressed voice continue to speak, a face began to materialize from the static, eventually showing that of a young woman that looked like she was in her late 20s. But other than her general appearance, the exact nature of her facial features could not be ascertained, because of the immense amount of static.

"I can't believe what happening it doesn't even seem real. . . it's strange. . . such a little thing" Despite the static, making the woman's facial features slightly obscured, everyone could see the downcast look that spread across her face. It was a look that made everyone shiver, because it was the look of someone that had accepted they were going to die. The woman looked back up directly at the camera, as if she was about to continue speaking, but before she could do that, her face quickly dissolved into a mess of static leaving everyone in suspense about what she was going to say next.

The static persisted for a moment before suddenly shutting off, with a completely different voice beginning to speak.

"How many times have you watched that thing? you must really miss her" the camera pulled the back, revealing that the voice belong to a woman with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, that looked to be in her early to mid 20s.

The environment she was in was a strange one to say the least, the backdrop behind her easily visible through the giant windows, was a strange swirling blue mass that almost resembles some kind of strange tunnel. Sitting directly in front of the large windows were two men, pulling various leaders and tapping away at various screens. off to one side was a dark skin bald headed man that looks to be in his late 30s, he was also tapping away at some strange glass screen that admitted an orange hue, and finally at the centre of the room was a single man in a chair. at first no one recognised him, due to his remarkably short haircut, his general rugged and aged appearance, but the moment everyone saw his eyes, realisation struck them like a fully loaded freight train.

"Yeah. . . I've missed her a lot Kendra" Subaru voice was rugged and gruff much like his appearance, and seemed to lack some of its usual energy, but it's still was undeniably his voice.

"Well don't worry then, we're almost there, you'll be able to look her up once we're onboard, sounds like you two have a lot of catching up to do" Subaru gave a simple nod in response, as Kendra turned to address the dark-skinned man tapping away at the orange glass panel. Subaru meanwhile leaned back in his chair slightly, rubbing his stubble laden chin, with one of his glove hands, as his mind began to wander, thinking of various things that flash by too quickly to identify. Before his thoughts landed on one particular mental image, that being him on one knee, in front of a very shocked and slightly confused young woman, with the young woman having greenish coloured hair, and her face having a very sharp but still elegant and feminine look to it. Subaru's lips twitched upwards just ever so slightly at the memory, still remembering it like it just happened the other day, it was the happiest day of his life, the day he finally proposed to Nicole.

The theatre sunk into a state of uneasy quietness, as everyone processed what they had just witnessed, many including Wilhelm Julius Otto and Garfiel, were happy that Subaru had managed to find love. but for a certain group of people, the revelation came as a shock, in particular a certain half-elf's mind began to race with mental images of Subaru being romantic with another woman, which caused a new feeling to begin to bubble up in her chest, it was a horrible sickly feeling, one that seemed to eat away at her very soul. Emilia clutched the sleeping Subaru even close to her chest as her pupils shrunk, giving her eyes a slightly crazed look to them, as the envious jealous feeling continue to bubble away in her chest.

Rem mind was just in much of a state as the half elf, her heart assaulted by the same awful jealous feeling, aas her grip on the armchair rests increased to such a point where they began to crack and splinter beneath our hands. Causing her sister and several others around her to look at her with a look of growing concern.

"Damn, little bro really caught a looker didn't he" Al laughed between mouthfuls of popcorn, even not caring or simply just ignoring the two glares that would direct his way, as he continued to shovel popcorn through the slit in his helmet and into his mouth.

"She's so prettyyyy! Frederica do you think I can look that pretty one day!?" Petra exclaimed excitedly, turning to look at the blonde-haired maid in hopes of validation.

"Of course Petra, I'm sure you grow into a beautiful woman one day" Frederica answer cause the young girl to jump in excitement, which intern cause a smile to spread across Frederica's face, as she gently patted the young girls head.

"Yeah yeah she's quite beautiful and all that crap, but. . . did anyone else get the feeling she looked kind of familiar?" Felt's words where indeed correct, this Nicole that Subaru was apparently infatuated with, did have an appearance that was oddly familiar in a strange way.

"Lady Felt is correct, this Nicole person does indeed seem somewhat familiar" Reinhard followed up his royal candidate, as he brought a hand up to his chin racking his brain, trying to remember if he had met anyone by the name of Nicole.

"hmmmm her face is so familiar. . . but where have I seen her before?" Felix spoke to himself quietly, as he tried to figure out the mystery woman's identity, the cat boy idly looked over at his mistress as his brain was processing it all, only for his mind to come to a screeching halt, for just the briefest of moments despite her different hairstyle, his mistress looked uncannily like the mysterious Nicole person. The catboy quickly shook his head repeatedly telling himself that wasn't possible, but the more his brain thought about it the paler his face became, as horrified realisation finally sunk in. But it wasn't just the cat boy that had realised, both Wilhelm and Crusch had come to roughly the same conclusion, causing both of their faces to turn bone white as well.

The space is suddenly rocked, by an outside force causing the dark-skinned man and the woman named Kendra to stumble slightly, as the swelling blue tunnel outside the glass windows suddenly disappears, replaced by an all too familiar scene that caused everyone's stomach to drop.

"oh no. . ." everyone said at practically the same time, as the all to familiar scene of a planet suspended in space came interview, chunks of rock and debris floating in orbit, as somewhere amongst the amongst the debris and rock, a ship of nightmares and horror possessed by a malevolent force patiently waited for its next victims.

"All right everyone, we're here so saddle up, make sure that the orbit is perfectly synced helmsman" the man identified as the helmsman gives a nod, as the enclosed space now identify the some kind of vessel, begins to carefully make its way through the debris field that encompasses the planet.

"All that trouble over that chunk of rock" Kendra let's out a sigh as the dark-skinned man looks like he's about to answer, but Subaru answers instead.

"Deep space mining is quite profitable you know Kendra, you'd be very surprised how rich you can become by cracking open a planet or two" Subaru's answer cause Kendra to look at him with one of her eyebrows raised, before the dark skin man interjected picking off from where Subaru had stopped.

"Subaru is right Ms Daniels, Deep Space mining is a lucrative business, and apparently aegis 7 is a gold mine, according to prospector's reports, cobalt, silicone and osmium just to name a few, now where is the ship?" the dark skin man finished speaking, as the strange vessel continue to manoeuvre around space debris of various sizes. And finally as the strange vessel rounded a particularly large space rock, the object of Interest finally came into view.

"There she is, we have visual contact" the dark skin man confirmed with the helmsman, as the strange vessel began to close the distance to the much larger ship.

"So that's the Ishimura, impressive indeed" Kendra couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the vessel, it was easily twice as big as the biggest ship she never worked on, her amazed words seemed to bring a small amount of Pride to the dark-skinned man's face.

"The USG Ishimura, biggest and oldest planet cracker in her class, and it looks like they've already popped the cork" the pride easily evident at the beginning of his words was now absent as he noticed several things wrong with this picture, which Kendra seemed to pick up on as she began to examine the ship that was off in the distance, a look of concern growing on her face as the two ships continue to close the distance to each other.

"Why is it all dark? I don't see any running lights" the concern was easily evident in Kendra's voice, as the massive ship continued to grow ever closer.

"Helmsman take us in closer and hail them, and stay clear of that debris field, we're here to fix their ship not the other way around" dark skin man gave the order to which the helmsman nodded in understanding, the strange vessels suddenly pitch to the right dodging and weaving around small space rocks, as the distance between the two ships became less and less.

"Man this is going to end badly" Al said between mouthfuls of popcorn, causing quite a few people to look at him in surprise and concern.

"If I may ask sir Knight, why exactly would you say such a thing" Wilhelm was the first to respond, intently curious why the helmeted knight had said such a thing

Al intern had to think for a moment, at just how to explain it to the old swordsman, considering that him and everyone else included wouldn't understand movie tropes, after a moment of thinking and another mouthful of popcorn Al decided to just go for broke and tell them anyway even if they didn't understand completely.

"Well you see, basically in fiction there are things called story tropes, basically these can be anything from plot devices to narrative themes used in pieces of Media" Al stopped Midway through his sentence, to stuff another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth chewing and swallowing it quickly before continuing

"And right now what we're seeing is giving off major troop vibes, particularly the ones you would see in a horror movie" Al finished shoving another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth, Wilhelm and many others contemplated his words. Wilhelm despite not being an avid reader was at least familiar with the concept of narrative devices in fiction, so he somewhat understood what the helmeted Knight was referring to, although he still had many questions that would most likely not be answered.

Meanwhile at the front of the audience, a certain half-elf was only just now recovering, of Subaru's future lover not being herself, looking down a sleeping boy in her arms Emilia couldn't help but feel sadness beginning to eat away at heart, the previous viewings had changed her entire perspective on Subaru and had a woken a deep love for the boy, that she always knew was there but just didn't understand at the time.

"Subaru why didn't you choose me. . . A-after everything he went from for me, W-W-was I not good enough. . . did I not T-T-treat you well enough" despite not expecting an answer, Emilia desperately wished that he would answer her , and tell her what she had done wrong for him to choose another woman over her.

"Lady Emilia, you need to get a hold of yourself!" a new voice surprise for half elf, causing her to look up only to see that Ram was standing before her, her legs still somewhat shaky but just managing to hold her upright.

"But you saw. . . Subaru chose another woman, I obviously wasn't good enough! I always knew I wasn't I just. . . I just" Emilia's quiet word quickly turned into shouting, before she trailed off tears beginning to leak from her eyes, but she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, quickly turning her to face Ram.

"You need to get a hold of yourself! and stop acting like a child! so what is Subaru did not choose you, just because he chose another woman doesn't mean he would abandon you! you know that more than anyone, so hold your head high and accept it! it will hurt but quickly you accept it the faster you can move on!" Ram did not have the energy to shout, but her words certainly were much louder than Emilia was expecting, causing the half-elf to flinch slightly as the pink haired maid hard eyes bored a hole into her own. Ram words echoed around in Emilia's mind. And finally began to sinking, causing the half-elf to realise that just because Subaru had chosen a different woman, didn't necessarily mean that he was abandoned her, after all he had promised that he would help her achieve her dream no matter what. looked back at the pink haired oni despite the tears still leaking from her eyes she gave the made a small smile, which Ram reciprocated her lips twitching upwards ever so slightly. And with that Ram gently got up careful not to make herself feel dizzy, as she began to hobble her way back to her seat, her sister meeting her halfway to help her, due to her legs still lacking a lot of strength.

"she's very good at motivational speaking it seems?" Julius commented, finding it incredibly peculiar that the pink haired maid had particular talent for motivating people with her words.

"Some have a way with words, and some don't, it's that simple Julius" Reinhard answered his friend, despite him having vast numbers of divine protections, there were some things that simply couldn't be given through divine protections, the ability to motivate people through speech being one of them. sure, he certainly had divine protections that could motivate people in battle, but that was not the same as truly motivating people through your words alone like the pink haired maid seemed to have a talent for.

"USG Ishimura, this is the emergency maintenance team of the USG kellion responding to your distress signal, come in Ishimura" no response is heard as the hulking frame of the planet cracker continues to grow closer, Kendra getting worried walks over to one of the helmsman.

"You gonna need to boost the signal, they are obviously operating on reserve power" Kendra Kendra is stopped by the dark-skinned man before she continue, causing her to look quite annoyed and slightly offended by the action.

"Yes we know Ms Daniels, helmsman boost the signal. . ." the helmsman does as the dark-skinned man orders, flipping various switches on a panel next to him, in trying to establish some kind of contact between the two ships. For a moment nothing is heard, before a faint garbled noises heard, it was definitely human sounding, but the amount of interference made it impossible to understand what was being said.

"Booster signal bit more" the helmsman does as ordered, but the incomprehensible noise remains fate and quiet, much to Kendra and the dark skin man's annoyance, Kendra then turns to Subaru, giving him a look that could only be described as, you have any ideas? Subaru for his part thinks for a moment before simply giving a shrug, in his years working as a ship repair specialist he had never heard of a complete communications blackout on a ship of this size.

it's weird I've never heard of a complete communications blackout on one of these things, you think with over 1000 people onboard, someone would pick up the bloody phone" the annoyance in Kendra's voice was very evident, as she began to angrily tap her foot on the cold metal floor of the kellion, causing one of the helmsman and the dark-skinned man to look at her, with a look that could best be described as you always complain like this.

However, everyone's thoughts are suddenly interrupted, by a new screen popping up, accompanied by what could only be described as a jumbled mess of sounds that was very unnerving, it almost sounded like a beast trying to imitate human speech but not succeeding at it. Subaru and Kendra look at each other, both of them nodding at each other because they know exactly what was the problem now, while the dark-skinned man and the two helmsman were seemingly put off by the strange otherworldly gobbles.

"What is that?" one of the helmsman asks, as the strange otherworldly noises continue to play.

"Sounds to me like a busted communications antenna" Subaru said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms over his chest as his mind began to go over all of the possible problems and Solutions there were to fixing the ships communication systems.

"Subaru is right, it sounds like they're having problems with their transmission encoder, you get us down there and me and Subaru can fix it, 48 hours max" the dark-skinned man seemed satisfied with the two engine specialists answers, quickly turning to the to helmsman to give them orders.

"Alright you heard the two experts, take us in, let's see what needs fixing" the dark-skinned man said as the two helmsman began pulling various levers and switches, preparing the ship for its docking procedure.

"Alright gravity tavares engaged, automatic docking procedure is online" helmsman continue to pull various levers and switches, as a stranger ethereal light is seen outside the viewport of the spaceship, for a moment nothing happens as the true scale of the planet cracker is finally revealed, but suddenly something explodes near the side of the ship causing it to be thrown violently to one side, throwing Kendra off her feet, and almost sending Subaru flying out of his chair.

"What the hell!" the dark-skinned man addresses the helmsman, as the ship continues to rock from side to side violently, almost sending the dark skin man flying off his feet.

"Sir! the autodock-"

"What is it!" the dark-skinned man quickly cuts off the panicking helmsman, as he looks over the man's shoulder of the various warnings the panels were showing, concerned flashing across his face.

"We're off track, we're going to hit the hull!" One of the helmsman shouts as he tries to wrestle control of the ship, from whatever forces pulling it in towards the massive planet cracker.

"Hit the blast Shields-!" the dark skin man is interrupted as he's almost thrown off his feet again by the ship rocking violently again, Subaru by this point is managed to completely strapped himself into his seat, surprisingly despite the tense situation the nasty eyed man, looks relatively calm only the smallest amount of concern evidence in his eyes.

"Damn it! their guidance control system must be damaged, switch to manual, NOW!" the man says causing both helmsman, Kendra and even Subaru to look at him as if he was crazy.

"Switching to manual inside the magnetic field! Hammond are you insane or something, abort the approach!" the dark-skinned man now identified as Hammond, looks at Kendra incredulously, as he turns to the helmsman to give them a direct order, that would hopefully save all their skins.

"NO belay that order! we can make it inside corporal, I gave you an order now follow it" Hammond's words cause both helmsman to look at him as if he was crazy, but after a moments hesitation, both of them comply with his orders, one of them reaching up and pulling a lever, causing large metal shutters to cover the front windows of the spacecraft.

"That guy is going to get them all killed!" Felt words did not understate just how severe the situation was, despite them not understanding exactly what was going on, everyone in the audience could tell that it was a life or death situation.

"Hell yeah! the hell is that guy doing, he's gonna get cap killed!" Garfiel words resonated with most people, as this Hammond person was by their measure being incredibly reckless, giving out orders that could potentially end with everyone on the ship being killed.

However, the more military minded members of the audience, disregarded that thought, because this Hammond person was clearly someone of a military background, judging by the way he barks orders and carried himself in the stressful situation. Crusch as a military minded woman herself, couldn't help but admire the way he commanded his crew, obviously calculating that the risky manoeuvre was the best chance his stricken vessel had for survival. But this also made the green haired woman think about how Subaru had come to know such a man, considering that this was apparently supposed to be the boy's future. But alas thinking about it now would get her nowhere, resulting in her line of thought simply being another set of unanswered questions added to the ever-growing pile of them.

"Damn it the field is too strong!" one of the helmsman shouts as both of them wrestle against the controls of the ship, by this point Subaru was definitely looking very concerned unlike a moment ago with a million thoughts flashing through his mind, but suddenly he and everyone else are thrown violently forward as the ship contact something solid, Subaru's vision goes completely white as a deafening ringing enters his ears, and as he quickly slips into unconsciousness, Subaru for just a briefest of moments could have sworn he heard something, something that sounded incredibly far away but also Incredibly close at the same time

"Subaru/Daddy make us whole again?"

---

well now that's certainly was quite the ride wasn't it.

I haven't got much to say besides I hope you enjoyed that chapter, also when it comes to the release of chapters for this story, new chapters for this story will be released in between chapters for my main story, but anyway I'll leave you be so see you next time.

(Also special thanks to shape of Evil and writing pupil for helping me out with this chapter, I owe both of you)