Chapter 3: A Frozen Re:Start
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Felt was the first one to scream that, but as soon as the screen went black, everyone still had that question on their mind: What did they just watch?
This was supposed to be a fun what-if scenario on if everyone's favorite silver-haired half-elf went to another world. But somehow, in the middle of the story, it cuts to Subaru's perspective, where he was being attacked by some shadowy figure, which had Emilia's voice.
It was something beyond all horror and comprehension to everyone in the theater, even Subaru's parents. No one had seen such a thing, with only one exception: Subaru Natsuki.
"Subaru-kun…" Rem looked towards her hero. "Do you know what that was?"
Everyone looked over to the black-hareind knight, who looked like he had his life drained from him. He just stared at everyone, before whispering, "I can't tell you."
"So you do know something," Crusch said, her eyes narrowing.
"Heh, yeah," Subaru let out a soulless chuckle. "Kinda hard to ignore all of the clues."
"But –"
"Hey, what's that?"
Everyone stopped the questioning of the nasty-eyed knight, as they heard Petra, and saw her pointing at the screen, which now had a new message, and with it, two new choices:
What if Subaru was summoned to Elior Forest?
OR
What if Subaru never called for help in the alleyway?
"Sooooo," Roswaal smiled. "We haaaaave two new optiooooons…"
"Elior Forest?" Ricardo asked.
"Oh, that was where Puck and I were living before the Royal Selection began," Emilia spoke. "It was also the resting place of the former Great Spirit of Fire, Melakuera."
"Wuz tha' th' Day o' Red Earth an' Sky?" Garfiel asked.
"Yep," the half-elf nodded. "Puck fought him and won."
"As interestin' as tha' is, we still hafta vote," Anastasia said.
"All right, let's check the conditions," Al said.
Conditions: Subaru arrives seven years earlier.
Emilia's body never grows within the ice.
Conditions: The Capital City's First Day, Loop Four.
"Again with this "looping" thing, in fact…" Beatrice groaned.
Subaru's eyes looked up with some mild enthusiasm. With the Warden coming in to save him from more questioning, he had to make sure that the opportunity wasn't wasted, and that he would ensure that they never learned about his looping. For both his sake and theirs.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for the first one!"
"Oh? Why is that, Subaru-kun?"
"Because, Rem… it would feature kid Emilia!"
Al looked concerned behind his helmet. "Dude, I'm not sure that's kosher –"
"Not like that, you sick fuck!" the nasty-eyed knight replied, disgusted. "What I mean to say is that we'll see her growing up! I mean, it would be interesting to have the life history of a Royal Candidate up for our viewing pleasure! Get your mind out of the gutter, Al!"
Anastasia was quiet, but she was internally agreeing with Subaru. Having raw information like that on one of her opponents would help her immensely in the Royal Selection. She gestured to her Camp members to huddle up, and whispered her option to them.
Emilia did have one thing she needed to clarify. "Umm… Subaru, elves and even half-elves have much longer life-spans than humans, so it would take a long time to watch me grow up."
"That's not a problem! If this is like a normal TV show, which is a twenty-minute long program, then it would simply skip all of the boring stuff, and focus on all the good parts! I mean, it skipped over you sleeping and whatnot, so the logic is there!"
"I don't know…"
"Well, there is one more thing that can convince you guys."
"What's that?" Reinhard asked, intrigued.
"You would see me as an adorable eleven-year-old," he wickedly smiled.
SOLD! That was the collective thought of a certain oni, who knew what she had to do, as did a young maid, and doting mother, after hearing the Japanese teenager's final talking point.
"All right, have we all decided?" Crusch asked. "Those in favor of the first option?"
Thirteen hands were raised.
"All in favor of the second option?"
Twelve hands.
"Motion passed. Al-san, you know what to do."
"Understood," the helmeted knight nodded, as he grabbed the remote.
Everyone quickly got to their seats, the lights dimmed, and the second viewing began…
What if Subaru was summoned to Elior Forest?
Conditions: Subaru arrives seven years earlier.
Emilia's body never grows within the ice.
All of Subaru's being was consumed by pain. His chest hurt; breathing hurt; his head was pounding. But perhaps more pressing was the sensation that his back was being clawed apart. With great hesitation he opened his eyes, and in small movements muted by agony he caught a glimpse of a teary-eyed, blood spattered Emilia tending to him. Just what had he screwed up this time?
"Wh-what…?" Naoko squeaked in shock.
"Subaru…?"
Immediately, everyone was greeted with the opening shot of the episode, which was one of a bloodied eleven-year-old Subaru, being carried by an Emilia equal in his age. Not helping was the fact that the narration was describing in detail the pain he was in.
I instantly regret this.
It didn't take long for memories of being held hostage and beaten to come back. More confusing were hazy memories of dying. Had he died? Actually, had he died twice?
Most everyone snapped out of the uncomfortable fact that the on-screen Subaru was in pain, as soon as they heard that part of his internal thought process.
"Hold up, he died? How is that possible?" Felt asked. If everyone else also didn't hear the internal monologuing, she would have assumed she misheard that.
"Well, he is a kid," Otto suggested. "Maybe he misinterpreted something?"
"It would make sense," Julius surmised. "Perhaps the pain he is feeling would be equivalent to certain death. After all, he is a child, and they do tend to blow things out of proportion."
The rest of the Cast murmured in agreement, while Subaru was silently relieved. He wasn't too sure how exactly he would have bullshitted his way out of that one if he was asked.
Shaking the disturbing thought away, his eyes went searching for wounds on Emilia. To his confusion, despite her being absolutely drenched in blood, she didn't seem to be hurt at all. Whose blood was that then? It couldn't be his, Subaru was pretty certain he couldn't lose that much blood and live. Shoving aside the reemerging nonsensical feeling that he had died, if it wasn't his or Emilia's blood would that make it the mercenaries? As hard as it was to believe that seemed to be the most reasonable explanation. If Emilia hadn't done something to the mercenaries he wouldn't be here, safe and sound.
"I'm sorry," Subaru's scream-worn voice rasped out.
"Subaru!?" Emilia thoughtlessly wrapped him in an awkward hug from behind, relieved to hear Subaru awake again.
As much as Subaru tried to hold it in, he couldn't help but cry out in pain at Emilia's unintentionally rough treatment.
"Why don't you let me take over and keep him company while I finish treating the wounds on his back," suggested a voice that Subaru hadn't heard before.
"Ah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Emilia trailed off in a frenzy of frantic rapid-fire apologies. Subaru managed to force his trademark grin across his face, and Emilia calmed down ever so slightly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's my fault for being useless again." The words of self-reproach barely scratched out of Subaru's throat, yet Emilia's recoil was such that it would have seemed more fitting if Subaru had yelled. "I'm always relying on you to take care of me here, everytime I try to do anything I just make things worse. That monster in the snow, I stab myself and make you worry about me. The mercenaries, I get caught and make you have to kill people to save me. I can't do anything!"
"Yeah, that's true… But, I mean, c'mon, you're what, eleven? You're still in primary school," Al said. "Of course you're bound to screw up!"
"He wouldn't listen," Subaru shook his head, knowing himself.
"How come?" Emilia asked.
"Oh, well… You know how I am…"
"That's not right at all!" Emilia thundered with uncharacteristic intensity, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "Both of those were my fault! If I'd have done more, you wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. If I hadn't worried so much about being nice to the people trying to kill us, if I hadn't been so afraid of my power that one time, I could have ended both fights easily."
"I don't want it to be all on you. I want to be worth something, be a friend worth having. I couldn't own up to the reputation my Dad has, couldn't be a good enough son to repay them even a little bit for being my parents, couldn't be a good enough guy to keep a single friend. And now – now I can't do a single thing for the only friend I've ever had! I'm just as weak, stupid, and useless as I've always been!"
And just like that, Subaru became unresponsive once more.
He tried to play it safe, to avoid having everyone learning about Return by Death. And he succeeded. But the universe made sure that he would spill something.
With the rant of one child, the entire Cast went silent. All of Subaru's friends, his allies, even his own parents, just heard one of his deepest insecurities. And unlike the adult Subaru, who could just wear a face, a child is far more likely to speak their mind.
Far more likely… to speak the truth.
"What?" his mother asked. "Subaru, do you –"
"Not here."
Kenichi was also thinking of the same thing. "Subaru, what is this –?"
"Please."
Looking at the grim expression worn by their son, the couple decided that they would respect his wish. "Fine. But once this is over, we're talking about this."
Subaru's already worn voice grated miserably as long simmering doubts bubbled forth. Emilia couldn't help but watch on silently in stunned confusion. A concerned onlooker finally decided to break his silence.
"Both of you did one thing and only one thing wrong – you did something dangerous, when I couldn't be around to watch over you two," a slight hint of reproach colored Puck's speech.
"Lia, there's nothing wrong with wanting to show mercy. Just make sure you don't put yourself in danger." Puck tried to meet eye to eye with Emilia's downcast gaze, but let up and turned to Subaru.
"And you, for someone who's supposedly so useless, you do realize you could have beaten all those guys yourself in a straight fight, right?" Puck's question was met with Subaru's disbelieving gaze.
"Not a single one of them could use magic, a single Minya from you could have disabled or killed any one of them, had you not exhausted your mana during practice. It won't be that much longer before you're stronger than them physically too. Lia's so strong because she unconsciously uses her mana to reinforce her body, and you're starting to do that too, albeit nowhere near as well."
"Oh, Puck was actually helpful in this reality? What a shock," Subaru grumbled.
"Subaru!" Emilia gasped, obviously offended by what she heard.
"What? He literally let me get blown up during my first Shamak!" The true reason for Subaru's dislike of Puck was kept a secret.
"Are you sure you weren't just a bad student?" Julius asked.
"Oh, sit on a dick, pretty boy." Subaru mumbled in annoyance.
Puck paused to let the message sink in. Seeing that he still hadn't hit the mark, Puck was forced to point out the obvious.
"Subaru, do you really think you'd have been able to carry someone your own size and weight a few kilometers through the snow as you were in your old world? Much less do so with a knife in your leg?"
Subaru's eyes widened in realization. Picking up Emilia shouldn't be easy for him. Carrying her that kind of distance should have been impossible for him, much less in a princess carry.
"I really don't know what to do, I want you both to believe in yourselves, but I also want you two to stop being so reckless. Honestly!" Puck pawed himself in the face in frustration.
"Now if we're all done blaming ourselves for things that other people did, we really do need to let Clarissa finish dealing with your wounds." At Puck's cue Clarissa ,who had been nervously watching the events up to now, finally went to work.
"Ah. Ouch. Clarissa?" Subaru's question was pointed to Emilia and Puck.
"That's the name of the girl you and Lia saved, she has some training as a healer and probably saved your life," Puck gave a wink as a hint at the end of his explanation.
"I don't remember her when the mercenaries attacked me," the half-elf spoke.
"Well, maybe 'cause there's two of us in this reality, they brought her as bait?" Subaru suggested, see his silver-haired crush's confusion.
"I guess that would make sense…"
"Thanks for taking ca- Ah!" Subaru couldn't hold back a pained cry midway. "I don't want to be a big baby, but can you be a bit gentler?"
Seeing Emilia's concerned gaze, Clarissa bit back the kind of sarcastic reply that she reserved for ungrateful patients. To be honest, it hadn't been all that bad compared to many of her past cases. She'd seen grown men in tears from lesser wounds. Although her fear of Emilia had been tempered by the realization that she really was just a scared kid, that didn't change the fact that she had the ability to be seriously scary and she had no intention of risking setting her off.
"Heh, yeah. My pain tolerance is ridiculous," Subaru said to himself, agreeing with the internal monologuing of Clarissa.
Of course, he missed the multiple concerned glances from everyone around him.
"What?" he asked, like the desne dumbass he was.
"That's not something you should say so casually, Subaru," Crusch said, worried.
"You're welcome. And I'm sorry, but there's no way to make this hurt less."
"I was afraid of that," with a deep breath Subaru resigned himself to a long evening.
"Puck, is there any chance you could use some magic to clean all the blood off of Emilia?" Subaru asked.
"Hmm… that is an idea. Lia, let's go outside for a bit, I don't want to get everything here wet," Puck's face was twisted with a mischievous grin.
"Eh, outside? But Subaru…" Emilia trailed off in concern.
"I'll be fine for a few minutes. That blood actually makes you look kinda scary. Someone as cute and pretty as you has no right looking that scary," Subaru jested light-headedly.
"Oh, yeah, I guess she is covered in a lot of blood," Felt agreed.
"Yeah, we kinda forgot about it due to baby Subaru's wounds," Tivey gupled.
"He's not a baby," Subaru corrected them. "He's eleven in the show!"
Of course, Mimi ignored him and promptly started chanting, "Baby! Baby! Baby!"
"UGGHHH…"
"All right. I'll be right back." With great concern Emilia allowed herself to be separated from Subaru.
As soon as the door closed, "Can you try and get the worst of it done while she's outside?"
Subaru's question bewildered Clarissa. Her lack of response must have conveyed her confusion.
"She's already blaming herself for everything that happened to me, seeing me in pain is just making it worse," Subaru explained.
"Heh, even as a kid, I always try to act tough," Subaru huffed.
Naoko looked over to Kenichi, who simply said, "Hey! I didn't teach him that!"
"I see. The worst is actually almost over. Just a bit more and it'll be time to bandage all of this up," Clarissa smiled softly as she gave the news.
"I haven't told the others yet, but we'll need to get you to a more experienced healer as soon as we get a chance to make sure your lungs are healing correctly. Given that you're awake and talking I think you'll be fine, but given my lack of experience with such wounds I'd rather be sure."
"Where would we find one, I only know of the one village nearby?" Subaru's question brought about an awkward silence.
"I used to live there, and my old master is the town healer. I think I can convince him to take a look." Clarissa's tone was morose as she trailed off.
Subaru was quiet as he heard Clarissa. He knew that the kid version of him was smart enough to figure out what had happened, given the context.
"Used to live there? Did they sell you, or were you taken?" Reading between the lines Subaru drew the conclusion that one of the two was likely the case. Subaru, like any child, had the annoying ability to innocently poke at wounds without even realizing it.
"Sold. They sold me after your friend's ice flowers spooked the village a few weeks ago. From what I overheard they traded me for her elimination and the waiving of this year's protection money." Her voice was flat. Neither anger nor sadness bled through, the only emotion perceptible was resignation.
Or, he could just ask, that works, too.
Emilia remembered that incident. It was around the time Melakuera appeared to eliminate her. But she never knew that there was a person living there that had her life influenced by her to such a negative degree. She only hoped that in her reality, their version of Clarissa had a better life due to the fact that she never saw her, but she knew she was being too hopeful.
Upon hearing that, plenty of the audience had some choice words they wanted to say, and while most of them held their tongues, a few of them spoke. Such as, Garfiel, for example.
"Fuckin' racists."
"Sadly, that is sometimes the reality of the world," Wilhelm huffed.
"Subaru," Cursch asked. "In your world, does slavery…?"
"Abolished worldwide for nearly a hundred years now."
Everyone was mildly surprised by what he said. And still, every time Subaru said something about their world, it made theirs seem more and more inferior.
Subaru, however, felt a burning rage. Everything about the situation felt wrong to him. Emilia scared them, so they wanted her killed? They needed something, so they sold one of their own in to slavery? Was this really how the world worked?
"Why? Why would they do something so horrible to one of their own?" The blaze of righteous indignation roared in Subaru's chest.
"That's the thing. I'm not one of their own. As an orphaned demi-human, it's amazing I lived this long without being enslaved or worse." Calm acceptance answered Subaru's fury.
"What does being a demi-human have to do with it? You're still a person!" Ignoring the burning in his throat, Subaru could not hold back screaming his honest opinion.
Clarissa cast him a sad smile, "If everyone thought that way, the world would be a kinder place."
It was a bit of a tautological statement. Subaru thought that way because he was kind. If everyone thought that way, it would be because everyone was kind. If everyone in the world was kind, then of course the world would be a kind place.
"Of course. Everyone would think that way if they weren't idiots," Subaru huffed in frustration.
Hearing that, those who were present at the Royal Capital remembered something.
Those who heard Subaru at the Throne Room originally dismissed him for being a teenager who was in over his head, and who didn't know his place. But that was because… he had no place. The world they lived in wasn't his… so when he saw the Council of Elders insulting Emilia for simply existing, it was an affront to everything he was taught by his own people.
Julius thought back to the words that Subaru said back then. Sure, they sounded like someone who was delusional, but from his perspective, he was just doing the right thing. Sure, it came off as rude, but from his perspective, it was righteous fury.
Meanwhile, Crusch and Anastsia were thinking back to when Subaru came to them with a deal. It had been less than a week since his embarrassing duel with Julius, but he had already adapted to how their world worked, and used that to his advantage to help people.
A part of Crusch felt guilty, as she realized there was a good chance that, if Subaru offered nothing, relying solely on the goodness of her heart, she would not have helped him. She would not have helped all of those villagers who would have been killed by the Witch Cult, just because she viewed that idea of kindness as a hindrance.
A fool had just declared that it was the whole world, not him, that was stupid. For some reason the very thought was unbelievably funny to Clarissa. To find someone who thought this way had long seemed impossible, and upon discovering one they implied that to think differently was stupid. Yet despite all improbability, such a fool did exist. The fact that she had seriously thought that a kind world could only be a world of fools brought forth cynical laughter. It wasn't the fool she was laughing at though, it was herself. She'd be damned if it didn't sound obvious when he said it that way.
Now that she thought about it, for everyone born half human to loving parents, two such fools had existed. Looking at Subaru through her Divine Protection there was nothing to be found but kindness, selflessness, and self-doubt. The villagers around her had had the shade of kindness, but they'd also been stained by fear and desperation. Even when gazing through a mirror she couldn't use her divine blessing on herself, but not for the first time she wondered what she would see. Today she'd been afraid and desperate, interested only in securing her own survival. Would she look like the villagers that sold her?
"Oh, she has a Divine Protection," Felix whispered. "That's nice."
"What's a Divine Protection?" Naoko wondered out loud.
"Divine Protections are abilities granted to one at birth, though they can develop later in life." Reinhard answered, being the expert on the subject for obvious reasons. "Divine Protections can take multiple forms, but they are usually passive buffs or abilities one can use. Though, rarely can they be used for combat."
"Indeed." Crusch decided to give an example. "My Divine Protection of Wind Reading allows me to know when someone is lying, which makes negotiations easier."
"Then there's ma awesome self's Divine Protection o' Earth Spirits!" Garfiel also commented on his own ability, mainly to impress his Cap'n's parents. "So long as I got ma feet on the ground, I can control the earth beneath me an' make ma amazin' self tougher!"
Naoko and Kenichi were amazed that their world had their own version of superpowers. Along with Magic and demi-humans, the couple wondered what else this other world had to offer.
Meanwhile, Subaru thought about what the internal monologue spoke of. If Clarissa were to use that Divine Protection on him today, what would she see? She would probably see a fraud, someone worthless who only helped others just to make himself feel a little less guilty.
Her musings were cast aside as Emilia and Puck re-entered. Emilia's hair was disheveled and frizzed as if it had been windswept by hurricane force winds. Her gaze was cast away from Puck, arms crossed, a splendid pout on her face. The impression she gave was not far off from that of a puppy that had had it's favorite toy taken away. She was, however, clean and somehow already dry, to Clarissa's confusion.
Subaru, however, let loose a knowing chuckle, "He gave you a whirlpool wash didn't he?"
Emilia merely gave a high pitched, "Hmph," in response.
"Whirlpool wash?" Clarissa's confusion was practically palpable.
"Yeah he sucks you up inside a giant water vortex, spins you around a bit, then lets you down and blow dries you with a bit of Fire and Wind Magic. The end result is right in front of you." The knowing look in Subaru's eyes suggested that he too had been the victim of this treatment.
"Yep, I remember that…" Subaru mumbled to himself.
Naoko looked at her son with a slight concern in her eye, at hearing that her little boy was basically turned into a piece of laundry, but she digressed.
"There's a lot wrong with this, but is it really okay to get that wet outside when it's so cold?" Clarissa's eyes were scrunched and Subaru wouldn't have felt it out of place for there to be a question mark floating above her head.
"Emilia hasn't ever really been bothered by the cold, and for some reason I've kind of been growing immune myself lately." Subaru's explanation drew an odd look his way from both Clarissa and Puck.
"Looks like being exposed to Emilia's Magic so much has made you a bit resistant to the cold," and like the best of lies it wasn't really a lie, but rather a misdirection that did his status as a Spirit made by Echidna proud. Any protest threatened by Clarissa's disbelieving gaze was silenced by Puck's discrete yet frosty glare.
"He's lying," Crusch said.
"How can you tell?" Anastasia questioned, causing Crusch to look at her with that 'Really?' look.
That slightly worried expression on Emilia's face stripped away any pride Puck felt at his little white lie. Obviously the girl who accidentally froze her entire village would be upset about unknowingly affecting her friend with her magic.
"Don't worry Lia, I'd say that your magic is protecting him to be honest," Puck assured Emilia.
At least Puck was honestly convinced this was most likely the case. When Emilia's ice flowers had budded on Subaru they had not only done little to no damage, they had also served to immobilize the knife in his leg and stop the bleeding. Perhaps the cold might have even numbed the pain. Having a tiny bit of Emilia's mana inside of him did help explain these events. While Emilia wasn't immune to her own power, the effect was less on her then on others. It was afterall not a coincidence that of all the people frozen by Emilia's magic only Emilia herself had thawed.
"I just got done discussing this with Subaru, but we need to get him looked over by a more experienced healer. Since he is doing amazingly well, I'd like to go today if possible." A fidgeting tail was the only sign of Clarissa's discomfort.
"Mah, that's probably not a bad idea, but the only place I can think of –" Puck was interrupted.
"Would be the nearby village. More specifically my instructor."
"What will we need to pay him for the treatment?" Emilia went to go check her stash of pyroxene crystals as she asked the question.
"This time Lia," Puck's voice took on a hardened edge, "I believe that this is owed to us."
A fang poked out from Puck's mouth, "If they have any complaints they can feel free to address them to the Beast of the End."
"But I'd feel reaaaally bad threatening them rather than paying them," Emilia half chided Puck.
"Lia, Subaru is hurt because they wanted to have you killed or worse. If the cost of our mercy is just a bit of medical treatment, they should be thankful. Besides, a bit of intimidation might convince them not to try something like this again." Puck tried his best to hold back a menacing face, and perhaps succeeded as Emilia's takeaway was merely that Puck was mad rather than thinking that Puck might annihilate the villagers.
"Yeah, Emilia-tan," Subaru, for once, agreed with Puck. "I'm a forgiving person, heck I've forgiven a bunch of people who tried to kill me, but even I know when to draw a line."
"But they also tried to kill us!"
"Yeah, but there's a difference: Those who tried to kill me did so due to a lack of information, or a lapse of judgment. In the show, those guys simply tried to kill you because of how you looked. Now, I'm not saying to forgive a bunch of Witch Cultists, but just know that there are times to forgive a person, and there are times not to."
As the half-elf nodded along to her knight's advice, some of the people around him were conquered by something the black-haired teen said earlier in the discussion.
"I've forgiven a bunch of people who tried to kill me."
"Sorry to ask this of you," Puck turned towards Clarissa, "but I'll have to ask you to accompany us." Puck was answered with a small nervous nod.
Puck's reasoning behind the request was simple, he needed someone to assess whether the healer was doing their job properly. After all if something happened to Subaru, Emilia would be sad. Besides, it would be just a tiny bit depressing if Emilia's number two fan wasn't around anymore.
As soon as it became clear that they were setting out, Emilia gently picked Subaru up. Subaru averted his eyes in embarrassment, a faint blush on his cheeks
"Sorry that…" Subaru trailed off as reprimanding glare from Emilia met his gaze.
"I mean thanks," Subaru corrected himself.
A gentle smile crossed Emilia's face, "I'm not going to get upset just because you need a little bit of help now and then."
Oh, sure, hit me right where it hurts, Subaru internally grumbled.
Suddenly…
"Music again?" Felt asked, as she heard a familiar beat.
"It seems that the "introduction" has been played again," Crusch analyzed.
Opening Theme: Bursty Greedy Spider
Subaru is seen rising from the floor of the screen, as if time itself was reversing a fall, all while blood seems to be returning from a wound on his chest.
"This again?" Petra asked, still uncomfortable with the opening image.
"Yeah, this will appear for the beginning of each and every episode," Subaru said. "In my world, each show had their own different opening, with different music and visuals. It was a way to quickly identify if this was indeed the show you wanted to watch."
"But we already know what we're watching," Julius said.
"Well, it could also be used for people who missed the beginning of the show," the black-haired boy said. "And besides, for a show like this, I guess it acts as a reference to the openings in my world, while also getting some people in the mood to watch."
"I guess we'll play along, nyah…" Felix said, exasperated.
"Cool, you do that."
Tales from the Multiverse
The screen shows multiple different fight scene, including one where Garfeil attacks Hector, the Divine Dragon destroying the White Whale, Zarestia using her winds against Capella, Crusch fighting Groovy Gumlet, a younger Wilhelm slaying dozens of demi-humans, Priscilla taking on members of different Camps, Julius fighting Elsa, and one of Celilus and Puck fighting against Reinhard, among others.
"Oi, who would win in all them fights?" Garfiel asked.
"Wait, ya mean 'n th' intro?" Ricardo asked.
"Aye."
"Well, Reinhard-kun would definitely win against that big cat, nyah!"
"Agreef, Felix," Julius nodded. "And I'm quite certain the Divine Dragon would be victorious against the White Whale. And while I'm not truly certain of how I would fare against the Bowel Hunter, I would certainly to my best. But as for the other ones…"
"Garfiel would lose," Roswaal came in.
"Ya know th' clown, er… other clown?"
"Let's just say "yes", and leave it at that," the magic-user said, without his usual pep.
The next scenes are various still images, as the music and lyrics keep playing, starting with Zarestia and Halibel, then a shot of Kenichi and Naoko, followed by Theresia van Asterea in a realm of shadows, Reid Astrea relaxing with Volcanica, Vincent and Cecilus, a younger Emilia who is crying, an attacking Elsa and Meili, Fortuna and a sane Geuse defending Elior Forest, and an image of Shaula, tapping her foot.
"Hey, that image of Emilia-sama crying… do you think…?"
"Is it a foreshadowing of this episode?" Meili guessed. "I honestly don't know."
Meanwhile, in another part of the theater…
Geuse… Mother Fortuna…
As the camera zooms out of the scene, it reveals thousands of scenes, all of them playing at the same time, all of them… possible realites, waiting to be seen.
The scenes become a light brown in color, as it's revealed that the camera is zooming out of Subaru's eye, revealing that he's bleeding and wounded, but still smiling with his classic maniacal smile, and ready to keep on fighting.
Episode 2:
A Frozen Re:Start
It was in a subdued quiet that a floating cat, a cat girl, a silver-haired half-elf, and a boy from another world made their trek towards the nearest village. The howling wind and crunching of the snow beneath their feet doing little to quell anyone's nerves. Of the four only Clarissa could be seen shivering. True to his claim, Subaru seemed almost completely unbothered by the weather, and Puck and Emilia had never been bothered by the forest's climate.
As they made their way within eyesight of the town, the slight bustle of activity quickly came to a halt. Everyone quickly hustled inside and the echoes of slamming doors resounded across.
That the silver-haired girl was approaching, with Clarissa free and in towe, could only mean that the attempt to eliminate her had failed. The villagers could only cower as they waited for her to reap her vengeance.
In Emilia's field of vision there was only one exception, the man with whom she had often traded was in the open, bowing, his face practically planted in the snow. Slowly, Subaru still in her arms, Emilia approached the prostrate man.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive us. We had no choice." Just barely, the frantically uttered begging reached Emilia's ears.
"Bullshit," the nasty-eyed boy growled. "You always have a choice."
In the back, Roswaal merely smiled. Of course someone like you would think that, Subaru-kun. Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury to try and carve our own ideal futures…
"Raise your head, please," Emilia softly instructed.
The man did as asked quivering in abject terror the whole way. His head rose to a height where his line of sight now met her legs and feet. His trembling was violent enough that it looked as if his arms would soon be unable to support his body.
"Look at me please."
As the man forced his quivering body to raise his head to look at the half-elf of his nightmares, Subaru managed to turn his head to catch a glimpse. At the sight of the man's abject terror in the face of Emilia, Subaru had the irrepressible urge to laugh. Said urge was expressed not in laughter, but rather in a coughing fit.
The composed, almost cold expression Emilia had mustered melted away immediately, replaced with whole-hearted concern.
"Subaru!" The sight of her frantic exclam, brought the man bowing before Emilia to a startled halt.
"I'm all right," Subaru assured, taking deep breaths. "It's just I had a funny thought that all the times this guy talked with you to sell you stuff, he can't have ever actually talked to you."
"Well… from our perspective, yeah, it is kinda silly," Anastasia agreed.
"Anyone who truly knew Emilia-sama would know she was not malevolent," Julius nodded.
"Yeah, that guy can't look past his own nose!" Mimi giggled.
As other people kept agreeing with them, Subaru couldn't help but feel a little bit warm inside. Even outside of his Camp, there were people out there, capable of overcoming their preconceived notions given to them by society, and actually got themselves familiarized with the amazing person Emilia-tan actually was.
It honestly gave him some hope for this world, once they saw how fucking pointless racism is.
Emilia's forehead scrunched in confusion. Quickly giving up on puzzling out what Subaru was trying to say and quickly gave him a concerned examination.
"Subaru, are you sure you're ok. I reeaallly don't get what you're trying to say at all." She continued to inspect him, not unlike what Subaru imagined a mother might do after their child hit their head.
"I'm fine, trust me. It's just… how do I explain..." Subaru trailed off, trying to find the words to explain it.
"My mom used to say that hearing and listening aren't the same thing. So it's kinda like that," Subaru attempted to explain after a few moments of pondering
Emilia tilted her head slightly to the side, "But if you heard something, doesn't that mean you'd have had to listen to it?" she questioned in a bewildered rising intonation.
"No. I mean like not paying attention or thinking about the other person and what they're saying." This explanation seemed to get through if the sudden light in Emilia's eyes was anything to judge by.
"You mean like when I tell you I have chores to do, and you keep pestering me to go play with you?" If Subaru wasn't mistaken there was the slightest hint of a smirk on Emilia's face at that moment.
"What chores? How do you have chores while living in a forest?" Subaru literally couldn't understand that.
"T-that's different. The point is no one who's actually met you could be afraid of you." Though Subaru's voice was weak there wasn't a doubt of hesitation in his declaration.
Emilia's eyes widened ever so slightly and a blush ran across her cheeks. As her eyes glanced to the man who was now staring at them dumbfounded.
"Subaru, you dunce! You made me forget about him." There was no real bite in Emilia's scolding, rather she looked embarrassed.
"Pfft – Okay, tha's pretty funny," Garfiel chuckled.
"Well, they are little children," Otto said. "They're bound to forget something."
Ehh, sometimes kids are smarter than they look, Subaru said in his head.
"Good. I could tell you were about to do something stupid, that look in your eyes wasn't you at all." Subaru confronted Emilia with a self-righteous smirk, all the while suppressing the urge to let her know that he had never been called a dunce before.
"Something stupid I was just going to –" Subaru quickly cut in before Emilia could finish.
"Let me guess, you were going to accept that they were afraid of you and pretend to be all scary so they wouldn't feel bad about trying to kill you."
"Yeah, even I gotta admit, that's stupid," Subaru agreed.
"Hey, I wouldn't have known that until the Trials!" Emilia pouted.
"All right, fair enough. I know that my perspective shifted thanks to them."
Elsewhere, several members of different Camps couldn't help but overhear their conversation, and wonder to themselves what exactly "the Trials'' were.
Emilia's silence was all the confirmation he needed. Subaru gently shook his head with a fond smile. Subaru rolled in Emilia's arms to look at the man in question. He really would like it if Emilia would let him down to try and stand on his own, but he was pretty sure that would end up with his ears and cheeks pinched, and her carrying him anyways; Emilia could be really stubborn when she thought something was for his own good.
"Oi, stand up," Subaru abruptly instructed.
"Since you two have apparently never met, this is Emilia. She's a really nice girl who's apparently decided to forgive all of you." Subaru brashly spoke for Emilia.
"S-Subaru! And I'm not just forgiving them, it's for my benefit after all. You need a doctor and I need a place to buy supplies," Emilia nodded with her eyes closed, as if to convince herself that she believed her explanation.
The man before them had stopped shaking, and at this point seemed more an odd mixture of dazed and relieved than scared. It really had been quite a shock to watch what he had thought to be a Witch coming to strike him down in vengeance, behave like a naive little girl quibbling with her best friend. The friend part had been quite the shock too, the whole town had assumed he was her pet, toy, or some spawn of a Witch Cultist worshiping her. To the contrary they seemed to be on fond enough terms that her response to him teasing her had been for her to tease him back rather than striking him down. Now that he noticed it, the boy in her arms was wrapped in bandages and had some blood on him. Had he been hurt when they went after the girl?
"I would never hurt Subaru!" the half-elf exclaimed accusatory.
"Yeah, and I ain't the spawn of some Witch Cultist!" the black haired boy huffed.
"But you didn't say anything about not being her pet," the Vollachina Matriarch smirked.
"Slander!" Subaru pointed at Priscilla. "That is taken out of context, and you know it!"
The strawberry blonde merely laughed, while Subaru and Emilia blushed at the implications.
"If we've got that out of the way we probably should get to the doctor before it gets too late. I still want to have you two in bed before dark." Puck floated up to Lia's shoulders and broke up the conversation.
A startled jump later, Emilia took the hint hidden in Puck's somewhat stern gaze and regrouped with Clarissa as she guided her to the town healer. Puck, however, remained behind for a bit.
"Make no mistake," Puck's icy voice echoed, "This village only stands because seeing it destroyed would upset that girl. Lia forgave you and Subaru's choosing not to hold a grudge, but I'm not as softhearted as those two."
There was no trace of Puck's normal jovial disposition. Instead what was coming forth was the measured rage of the Beast of the End. The man had thought he had been afraid of the girl who looked like the Witch, it was now clear to him that what he had experienced wasn't even at the starting line of true fear. As he was awash in the freezing weight of the spirit's glacial aura, he found himself unable to move – he found himself unable to even tremble.
"I think I'll have you be my messenger," Puck ordained, his expression flat. "Should anyone leave even a single scratch or bruise on either of them ever again, I'll show this village a true monster."
Everyone was frozen in fear by what they just heard.
Emilia was shaken, but mostly confused. Sure, Puck would make the occasionally bad joke, but this? This was not the Spirit that raised her. This almost made it seem like Puck was wearing a mask whenever she was around her, and this is what he was actually like.
Beatrice and Roswaal knew better, however. They both knew the true nature of Echidna's most dangerous creation. The Beast of the End was a being who had a single-minded obsession, and nothing would stop him from completing his task.
And Subaru… he knew that monster's true self the best.
He could still feel the chills from when Puck froze everything. He could feel as his limbs froze in place, the sharp pain as his tears turned into ice on his face, the numb sensation of his head rolling off his neck and tumbling into the snow, and he could feel the madness creeping into his as he broke apart, laughing hysterically as he did so. He remembered how Puck went from his jovial personality to an unfeeling monster, who would go on to destroy the world, with the only hope to see the warm sunshine ever being Reinhard, all because of him. It was his fault that Emilia died, and that hundreds of others had to suffer because of him. He could feel the cold –
"Subaru? Subaru!"
"Huh?"
"You were spacing out, in fact."
"Oh, sorry, Beako. I guess I was just… thinking."
He can't hurt you anymore, Subaru reassured himself. He can't hurt anyone anymore.
His threat delivered, Puck floated away without any further words of parting. His message was well received and would spread across the village soon enough, or at least it would when the old shopkeeper found the wherewithal to move his legs again.
As Puck popped back in, "There you are Puck, did you have something you had to do?" Emilia asked.
"Nyathing too important. Just checking on something real quick," Puck's voice was once more jovial.
"Did he just do a fucking cat pun?" Al asked, in disbelief.
"You gyot a problem with them, nyah?" Felix asked, his tone cold.
"Nope! No problems here!"
Any more ponderings were cut off as Clarissa rapped on a door twice, "Are you in Rum-sensei?"
Subaru resisted the urge to laugh. Rum? Was this guy seriously named after an alcoholic drink... actually now that he thought about it did rum even exist in this world.
A balding, yet kindly looking man opened the door. Upon setting eyes on their guide, he momentarily paused. A sad yet cautiously relieved look came across his face, or at least that would be the impression that an experienced adult would take away. To Subaru it looked like he'd been holding it in all day and really needed to go to the bathroom.
"I'm glad to see you're okay," Rum looked to be at a loss for words.
"Those two over there managed to save me," she gestured over to where Emilia was carrying Subaru.
Despite the unexpected startle of seeing the spitting image of the Witch of Envy, it did not escape the man's notice that the boy in the girl's arms was clearly hurt.
"Well get the boy in here and I'll take a look," Rum squashed his fear and prepared to get to work.
As they walked in he gestured to a makeshift bed in the center of the room. Rather than an actual bed it was closer to a wooden table with sheets layered on top. While most of his work was indeed house calls, it was not unusual for a wounded person to be brought in and this had served as a solution well enough. An actual bed would be ruined by blood too quickly.
Emilia took great care in setting him down gently, making sure to lay him on his side. Without much adieu he set to work, consulting with Clarissa about what had happened and what had been down.
It was an hour or so of inspections and piecemeal healing before they finished. The whole while Emilia fidgeted anxiously on the other side of the room. Having finished, the town healer finally took notice of her worry.
"He's healing up just fine. If everything goes well he'll be back to normal by morning."
Her hand to her chest Emilia let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you sooo much," she gave the doctor an honest, heart-melting smile.
"Aww… that's so wholesome!" Subaru smiled.
While a majority of the Cast would agree with that sentiment, they kept that to themselves. Some of them were overwhelmed by the purity of that smile.
"Still, I'd like him to stay overnight, so I can check that the healing is taking properly every few hours. You can come and get him in the morning." Rum gave his orders in what he hoped was his most reassuring voice.
"I'm not leaving Subaru by himself," Emilia's voice carried an unexpected edge to it, beyond what could be written off as childish stubbornness. The slight chill in the air and Clarissa's shaking head were enough to convince Rum to leave it.
"I don't have another bed, but I'll bring out a chair and some blankets."
"That's fine. Thank you."
Rum hurried off, a bit spooked and eager to get some distance. He took his time gathering the blankets and chair, hoping that a few minutes break would help him wrap his head around what was happening. As he returned to the room the girl had not budged an inch from the boy's side. He walked into a conversation and chose to wait for them to finish, or at least he wanted to avoid interrupting them; he was pretty sure that angering the silver-haired elf was a very bad idea.
"Emilia, you can go home and sleep. I'll be alright for tonight." The boy almost appeared embarrassed about something.
"Absolutely not," her hands on her hips Emilia looked for all the world like a little girl playing at being a stern mother.
"Oh my gosh, that pout! Simply adorable!" the Japanese teenager squealed.
"Subaru!" the half-elf squeaked in embarrassment.
"Rem has to say, you are also quite cute as a child, Subaru-kun."
"Aww, thanks Rem!"
I wanna barf, Ram thought in disgust.
"What if something happens again and this time I'm not around. Besides, there won't be anyone…" Emilia trailed off a distinct sadness in her voice.
Subaru however could make out the unspoken, "I don't want to be alone." As much as he wanted to apologize-as much as he wanted to fuss over her getting enough sleep Subaru knew what she wanted to hear the most, "thanks."
"You should try and get some sleep, I think that's supposed to make you get better faster," Emilia gently fawned over Subaru's well-being.
"I'm really tired, but I just can't, you know," Subaru explained.
"I could sing you a lullaby, would that help?" Emilia offered.
"Please no," Subaru's drooping eyes widened, "you know I think you're amazing, but your singing is the stuff of nightmares."
"You're so mean sometimes," Emilia's face puffed out in an indignant pout, "But considering how a Mabeast ran away from us the last time I practiced you might have a point."
"BAHAHAHA!"
"GARF, THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" Frederica hissed. "You know that Emilia-sama is tone deaf!"
Huh, just like Betty and Mother, I suppose, Beatrice realized. Betty didn't know that.
"I'm sorry, Sis… bu' tha's fuckin' hilarious!"
As the others chuckled a bit, either due to the comment the on-screen Emilia made, or because of the manic laughing of the blond demi-human, Priscilla smiled to herself, as she believed that she had found yet another point to ridicule with that half-elf.
But that was for a later date. Now, she would simply enjoy the show.
Sensing an opening Rum brought the chairs and blankets to Emilia's side.
"Oh, thank you," Emilia quickly took a seat next to Subaru immediately clasping on to his hand.
No sooner than she had wrapped the blankets around herself did she begin to nod off. In short order, she slumped over with her head resting on Subaru's side.
Clarissa was the only one who didn't seem too surprised by this outcome, "She did use up a huge amount of mana trying to keep you alive, Subaru."
A brief pause later, "To be honest, I'm amazed she woke up again at all today."
"That sounds about right, she was probably too busy worrying about me and everyone else to realize she was exhausted," smiling down on her fondly, he carefully repositioned her to a more comfortable resting position.
Rum couldn't help but ask, "Just how did the two of you meet?"
It was the question of the day, just how did a normal boy end up friends with the Witch's doppelganger. He didn't seem to be her pet or anything nor did he seem to be worshiping her. So the question of what drove the two together remained a mystery.
"Okay, rude," Subaru said in a flat tone.
"Are you referring to the doppelganger part or the worshiping part?" Frederica asked.
"The doppelganger part. I already worship Emilia-tan," he joked.
"Pervert," Ram hissed.
"Well I kinda fell from the sky one day, she saved my life, and then we became friends," Subaru answered with all of the naive bluntness of childhood.
Rum and Clarissa were stricken silent, trying to make sense of anything that was happening today. Before the conversation could continue any further, Emilia's pained whimpers drew Subaru's attention back to her sleeping form. He gently began to stroke her hair with his free hand and she quickly calmed down.
"I should have figured she'd have nightmares again after today," Subaru gave a resigned sigh.
In response to Subaru's ministrations, Emilia's face snuggled up against Subaru. Before long Subaru's eyes too drifted closed and the two were finally asleep. Unwilling to disturb the two, Rum and Clarissa retreated to another room. The two took seats at a dining table and spent a few moments awash in an uncomfortable silence.
"Get some rest, I'll wake you up if I need your help with the brat," his parting words said Rum made his way to his room leaving Clarissa alone to her thoughts.
Giving up on making sense of anything she made her way to the makeshift cot that had been made for when she needed to be around overnight to help out with medical emergencies. She curled up in herself and slowly drifted off to a fretful sleep.
It would be at the crack of dawn that the whole house would be awoken. An incredible racket was coming from outside, the sound of several people banging pots and pans together as loudly as they could.
"Bandit raid!" The groups' shouts echoed.
"SHIT!"
Clearly the retaliation that Rum had feared had arrived, albeit much faster than anticipated.
The sounds of crashing pans and shouts from the street tore Subaru from his slumber, as he awoke in a startled jolt. The jolt was intense enough that he might have jumped straight to his feet were there not a certain someone draped on top of him.
"You're being so noisy Subaru. Go back to sleep…" Emilia's voice called out to him, slurred by sleep.
Subaru might have even been inclined to go along with it this time, if only he hadn't finally made out the words being shouted. But he had, and so he had to wake up Emilia, a task that was often, admittedly, quite difficult…
Gently shaking her shoulders, "Oi, you have to get up! It's an emergency."
Emilia slowly lifted up her head and opened her eyes. She cast a bleary-eyed gaze at Subaru, as she attempted to blink away the daze of sleep. At the end of a cat-like awakening stretch, Emilia paused in concern, her pointed ears having finally made out the warnings being shouted amongst all the commotion.
"Subaru do you think it's because I…" Emilia cast a nervous glance towards Subaru, having reached peak awareness surprisingly quickly after her realization.
"Maybe. The village gave up your location, so they might feel like they were set up. Honestly, they might not be wrong. As afraid of you as everyone is, the villagers might have expected you to take them out," Subaru, who was ever so slightly more worldly than Emilia, conjectured.
In the sequence of events that Subaru had postulated, it was clearly neither his or her fault nor was it his or her responsibility. If the two acted on that belief, they would not be wrong. This outcome was purely the result of the village trying to have two problems take care of each other. However, neither Emilia nor Subaru were the kind of people that could turn away from another's suffering. For Emilia, however, there was also a slightly more selfish motive: she did not wish to have another village's blood shed in her forest.
"Puck, are you here?" Emilia called out.
There was, however, no answer. Puck had once again vanished to take care of something, and as usual he had left without warning. The fact that he had not given them any warning meant he had not intended to go very far away or be gone for very long.
Emilia would just have to have faith that he would come as soon as he was able to.
"Of course the rat disappeared," Subaru hissed under his breath.
While most of the Cast didn't hear him, Reinhard certainly did.
It did get him wondering however: Why such animosity towards the Great Spirit? He had heard Subaru shift uncomfortably whenever he appeared, how he simply forze, or glared at Puck. In fact, he wasn't the only person that Subaru mistrusted, or held animosity towards.
Why Roswaal? What did he ever do to Subaru?
It made him wonder: How many people did Subaru actually dislike? How long would it be until he shifted uncomfortably at Julius? Was when he was "biting" at Priscilla-sama, was that simply him venting his hatred of her? Was he distrustful of Crusch-sama?
And if any of those questions were to be answered with a yes… why?
As Emilia was about to run off to deal with things, Subaru grabbed her arm. He looked her in the eyes with a conviction that was uncharacteristic of his age.
"I'm not letting you go off on your own," there was a gentle firmness in Subaru's voice.
"But if I don't then –" Emilia's protest was cut off.
"I didn't say I was going to stop you, I just said I won't let you go alone," Subaru reassured.
"But Puck's not here, and you're still hurt," Emilia seemed almost frantic at letting any more time pass without her helping out.
"Actually, I'm feeling fine, I don't hurt anywhere and my mana's full. Now calm down, this time let's think it through." Seeing Subaru's crooked grin calmed Emilia and caused the slightest, and ever so confusing, flutter in her chest.
"All right, now that you're not panicking, how do we plan to stop them? I don't think either of us wants to kill them, but we already learned we can't just knock sense into them."
Subaru's question felt like a bucket of ice water being dumped over her head. If they just knocked out the offending mercenaries and left them, then they would just do something like this again; or perhaps even worse, they might catch them with yet another sneak attack. The thought of slaughtering them like the men she had killed yesterday, however, made her feel nauseous.
"Subaru what did they do with criminals in your world?" The faith and hope in Emilia's eyes and voice felt like the weight of the world to Subaru.
"Well, the police would hold them down, put them in handcuffs and take them to jail," Subaru droned off, trying to work out a plan.
"Handcuffs?"
"Yeah, they're these metal things that tie your hands together behind your back so you can't fight anymore," Subaru's explanation seemed to set off some sort of realization, as her eyes brightened.
"You don't know what handcuffs are?" Crusch asked.
"Of course I know what they are! I just didn't know what they were before I was frozen!" Emilia quickly defended herself. "I was living in a forest far from most civilization, after all."
"Hmph!" Priscilla smirked. "You really are just a –"
"Princess, not now, we're getting to the good part!"
"That's it! We can knock them out, tie them up with some rope, and drag them back to town." As Emilia pounded her fist into her palm in triumph, Subaru withheld the many objections he had; after all, he didn't have a better idea.
There was, however, one problem that could not be left unaddressed, "Emilia, where are we going to get rope?"
"We'll pick it up at the trading outpost, if they're not okay with that we'll pay later," Emilia's voice was eager, as she hurriedly brushed aside any objections.
Unable to think of a better plan, Subaru gave her a nod as they dashed out the door. Other than the few men running around town raising the alarm, the village appeared deserted for the most part. Every door they passed was locked shut, and every fire that would normally be visible was extinguished. Primarily operating on trade, very few of the town's inhabitants had much that they could use in the way of weaponry. In fact, the only reasonably armed people to be found were the very people sounding the alarm. Judging by the bows and daggers, Subaru assumed they must have been out hunting when they discovered the attack. It was on their way to the trading outpost that Subaru and Emilia crossed paths with said group once again.
"Excuse me," Subaru shouted trying to be heard over the ruckus they were making, "Do you know which way they're coming from?"
As the small hunting party looked towards Subaru, they froze in their tracks, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they froze when they caught sight of the person next to him. Stunned silent they gazed dumbly at the two of them. Surprisingly, it was Emilia herself who took charge and broke the silence.
"Please. We want to help. I don't want to see any more death in this forest," Emilia made a heartfelt entreaty, a gentle resolution in her eyes. A clenched hand fidgeting anxiously at chest height.
Unexpectedly, for the first time since she had thawed in the forest, she had gotten through to someone. Rather this time, she got through not to just a single person, but a group. An unreadable look in his eyes, the man standing in the front of the group stepped forward and held out his hand.
"If you're going to protect our town, we'll go with you," the man met Emilia's stunned eyes as he continued to hold out his proffered hand.
Emilia's amethyst eyes widened as she heard the man on the screen.
THAT never happened before.
Of course, when she was in the forest, she was already a full-blown adult, so it was kind of obvious most people would lower their guard in front of a child. Plus, this version of her had Subaru on her side, so the people would be far more trusting.
Still, the idea that they would actually help her… it boggled her mind.
The very action stunned Emilia into a profound silence. The only sign left that she could still move was the ever so slight trembling of her body, as she stood perfectly still, eyes quivering in disbelief. Perhaps she might have even stood in that spot in that state all day, were it not for a hand gently coming to rest itself on her shoulder.
"I… I…" Emilia stammered as she tried to find any words in her head to reply with.
It was only a few seconds of this before that very same hand that had gently pushed her on from her shoulder, grasped her wrist and moved her hand into the villager's still outstretched hand. A gentle squeeze from both parties, and an unspoken understanding was borne. It was a solemn moment, without the need for words of acknowledgment-or so it would have been, had the grinning fool standing next to her, the very one who had made the whole event possible, not opened his mouth.
"It's great that you guys are helping, but we need to know where we're going and we need to get some rope," Subaru simultaneously ruined the moment and took charge.
The hunting party was indeed small, numbering four people in total. The equipment they possessed was equally underwhelming. The daggers they possessed would be of little use against a sword, and the short bows they were carrying would quickly become useless if they couldn't maintain a distance. Perhaps an even bigger problem was that Emilia, by far the strongest fighter amongst them, fought best at close range. If Emilia chose to engage up close then the bows would then be of little utility.
Had Subaru or Emilia been older or more experienced, they might have seen the lack of benefit of bringing such a group with them. Emilia and Subaru, however, had no idea what they were facing, and were pleasantly surprised to have any help. Even so, Emilia would not have had the heart to turn away a group of people who were genuinely reaching out to her in any circumstances.
One of the hunters standing back chose to speak up, "I've got some at my place that we can grab on the way."
The man was relatively young and of seemingly slight build. His uncertain brown eyes and slightly disheveled, short maroon hair gave off a somewhat doubtful air. However, the speed with which he turned the show the way betrayed any presumed timidness. Time being of the essence the party of six took off in a wordless run.
As Subaru dashed through the snow, he was struck by the errant thought that it was like he and Emilia had picked up four NPCs, and were now off to complete a compulsory quest. Subaru shook his head, as if to lose the thought behind him as they made haste. This wasn't a game, it was a harsh world that had nearly taken his life several times. If he and Emilia managed to succeed and fulfill the role of the hero, his only reward would be Emilia's smile. Surprisingly, the reward didn't seem unfair at all to Subaru.
Subaru had slothfully ran and hid from his problems in his old world. Getting good grades was hard, so he stopped caring about them. Being a top athlete seemed impossible, so he gave up. He couldn't make friends, so he made a fool of himself. It was only here, in a fantasy world, that Subaru had been able to experience the fulfillment borne of diligence. Afterall, at his core Subaru was not a slothful person. Rather right now, standing next to his first real friend, Subaru felt unstoppable.
Before long the group came to a stop at a non-descript house. The man who had led them bolted inside, hopping on one leg as he tripped on his doorstep in a frenzied rush. A crash and several thuds later, he came back out a bit bruised but with a long roll of rope. He held it out to Emilia, a slightly nervous look on his face.
"Ah thanks…" Emilia trailed off.
"Laurence. I'm Laurence. If you don't mind… Why do you need rope?"
"Well, I don't want to hurt them too badly, so Subaru decided we'd knock them out, tie them up, and drag them to town." Laurence was driven speechless by the naive and innocent reasoning.
"She's a kid, what kind of sociopathic child would WANT to hurt people?"
"Uh, Subaru, honey," Naoko spoke. "I think he's speechless due to the fact that someone as kind-hearted as her would be growing up in a place as harsh as that. No offense, Emilia."
"None taken, Natsuki-san."
"Are you sure about that? They're likely going to be out for blood, you need to take them seriously."
Emilia turned a surprisingly piercing gaze toward Laurence, "I am. As long as Subaru and I stay together it'll be fine this time."
Laurence averted his gaze unwilling to meet the intensity in Emilia's eyes.
It was a short time later on that the group stood waiting on the path that the mercenaries were expected to arrive. The fear that Subaru was expecting to feel was nowhere to be found. A glance at the silver-haired half-elf next to him was all he needed to feel invincible. Someone needed him; someone had expectations of him. He had no choice but to answer them. Furthermore, for the first time he had a leg up on his competition; he could use magic no matter how basic. As long as they didn't split up, there's no way this encounter would end up like last time.
A thought struck Subaru, "How are we sure they're going to come down this road? Wouldn't criminals rather sneak in?"
"Not around here. There's no real law enforcement out by us, and they were bringing a couple dragon carriages. This is meant to be a show of force before they loot us."
The answer from the presumptive leader of the group of hunters disturbed Subaru. Just what kind of lord must these lands have to let such a situation go on? A glance around at the area revealed a relatively flat region with a well-traveled road. It appeared that the raiding party intended to enter and leave as easily as if they were a group of traveling merchants. Subaru took a calming breath trying to sooth his righteous indignation. Subaru needed to be in control; he wanted to incapacitate with Minya, not kill.
At the reference of "lord", multiple members of the Emilia Camp shot dirty looks at one Roswaal L. Mathers, with the obvious exception of Ram, of course, and Rem who didn't know what was going on.
Meanwhile, Roswaal just put on his usal dumb, happy smile. "Whaaaaat?"
"You know exactly what you did, I suppose." Beatrice was not having any of the clown's nonsense.
"Um… Subaru-kun? What is Beatrice-sama talking about?" Rem asked her hero, who remembered that she was still asleep during the events of the Sanctuary.
"I'll tell you later, Rem. That is, if we aren't shown what happened."
Before long a caravan of six total carriages traveling in two rows emerged from the forest path. The amount of men riding in or walking along those carriages was quite sizable, by Subaru's estimation there must have been near one-hundred men in total. As the six people who had set out to defend the village gazed onwards in shock, a lone crossbow-bolt came flying across the field. Subaru's eyes clearly traced the path of the bolt as it was effortlessly snatched into Emilia's hand. A cold gaze in her normally warm eyes, she snapped it in the middle with an understated squeeze before dropping it.
A brief moment of focus later and Emilia handed Subaru a makeshift iceshield. Holding on to it, Subaru felt surprisingly safe. For some reason that bolt had seemed to travel unusually slowly, and while he didn't think he could catch it, he was strangely confident he would have no trouble blocking one.
Between the unexpectedly overwhelming numbers and the incongruent sight of Emilia snatching a crossbow bolt out of the air, the four that had accompanied them were stricken silent and left unmoving. The courage they'd shown up to now had evaporated immediately, and had left behind a numb terror. The cause behind this was simple, when they'd spotted the group in the forest there had been a mere two carriages, perhaps fifteen or so men. Having figured that the Witch herself could easily take out ten or so they had had confidence that the fight wasn't unwinnable. But against a force a hundred strong or more, the four hunters believed that they had no chance of victory.
"Ha-ha! Those guys are so screwed!" Subaru cheered.
"Careful, Natsuki-san! Overconfidence could lead to defeat!" Otto warned.
"He is right, Subaru-dono," Wilhelm agreed with the green merchant.
"Just give me this win, please," the Japanese teenager groaned to himself.
Such a large group had been formed by the convergence of several separate groups. It was merely good fortune that said groups chose to converge and attack from the same point. Had they done so the groups attacking from different paths would have had an uncontested moment of pillage as Emilia and Subaru fought elsewhere.
Glancing back at their now useless companions Emilia and Subaru gave each other a silent nod before taking off in a sprint. Subaru found himself running at speeds that made his eyes widen comically in surprise, his gate open and functioning correctly was now properly saturating his body in mana. He could feel the warmth of his mana spreading out gently from his gate, seemingly supercharging his very being. At once Puck's comments about using mana to strengthen himself made sense, it was the kind of sensation that once he'd experienced it, he couldn't help but do it. It was almost as if some part of him had always known how to commit this very act.
Mana enhancements, huh? I guess that explains why everyone in this world is practically Superman, Subaru internally huffed. Still, it would have been nice to know about those BEFORE my Gate was destroyed. Thanks for that, PUCK, you piece of shit.
As Subaru shook off the intoxicating sensation of the strength rushing through him he glanced over towards Emilia. Emilia cast a faint, proud smile towards Subaru, as she checked to make sure he was keeping up. Subaru grinned to himself, believing just this once that he was someone worth being proud of.
Outstretching her hand Emilia chanted, "Huma!"
From her outstretched hand a modestly sized spear of ice launched forth. Aimed toward the wheels of the leftmost row of carriages, her projectile sailed forth, completely dewheeling that side of every carriage lined up. The shattered wood shattered and shot about as shrapnel impaling a couple of the mercenaries who had been standing around in inaction shocked by the sudden assault on their position. As the damaged sides of the carriages collapsed to the ground, the shifting of the passengers gave resounding thuds, the startled grunts of the misplaced passengers following soon after. The ground dragons futilely continued attempting to pull and push onwards but gave up as they succeeded in little more than digging a hole in the ground they stood upon.
Subaru went to follow up Emilia's act, but before he could cast a spell he noticed a volley of arrows coming in from the rear of the battalion. His initial fear was quickly overwhelmed by the heady confidence bursting forth at his new abilities.
"Holy shit, tha' kid izza better fighter than you, Cap'n!"
"Oh, wow, geez. Thanks for that, GARFIEL. Wanna punch me in the balls while you're at it?"
"Eh, pretty sure Rem would jus' kill me later."
"Subaru!" Emilia cried out trying to run towards him to intercept the incoming arrows.
But her concerns were quickly shown baseless as Subaru easily tracked and batted aside the incoming volley. A quick minya later and Subaru's shadow spear had disabled the other half of the carriages. A pained whail could be heard in the distance, but Subaru and Emilia paid it little heed.
"Don't worry Emilia! Today I'm feeling divinely inspired."
"Divinely inspired?"
"What else could I feel charging into battle with an angel at my side?"
Emilia's cheeks reddened, as she heard what the on-screen Subaru said.
Meanwhile, Rem simply pouted. That was our thing!
Meanwhile, everyone else was either howling with laughter, or teasing a very much embarrassed Subaru. Especially Subaru's parents.
"So," Kenichi said, with a smug smile. "Ya think Emilia-tan here is an angel, huh?"
Satella-tan, please kill me now.
Despite Subaru not hearing a response, he had a feeling said Witch was merely enjoying the show of her beloved being teased.
Her cheeks stained a deep red Emilia sputtered, "Subaru, you, you, jobbernowl!"
Subaru's usual retorts to Emilia's antiquated language were preempted by a sudden charge of swordsmen storming towards Subaru. As Subaru's Minya's struck true, the attacking swordsmen were temporarily petrified by crystallized mana as they collapsed. Or at least all but one were downed.
"Wha' th' fuck izza jobbernowl?" Garfiel asked.
"Oh, says the guy who spouts so many weird-ass quotes," Subaru chuckles.
"Ey, iz not ma fault if yer from another world. Git wit' th' times and learn our culture."
"For those wondering, it just means a blockhead," Emilia quickly explained to everyone else.
The lone swordsman who had been spared Subaru's counterattack raised his sword. The glint of the sun as it refracted off of the tip of the blade, induced a phantom pain as Subaru recalled the sensation of a blade slicing at his neck. Stricken by panic, Subaru aimlessly struck out with his right fist, and succeeded in landing a blow straight across his assailant's left cheek. The swordsman's body was launched backwards a couple meters as several teeth were liberated from his jaw by the force of Subaru's haphazard strike. His body fell bonelessly, having been knocked out by the sensation of his jaw shattering and the whiplash of his sudden launching.
Calming his fear-induced gasps Subaru gazed about his surroundings. There were no more mercenaries left standing. In the time that he had taken down one or two dozen men, Emilia had already disabled the remainder of the hundred or so men. In a way, Subaru thought his victims had been the lucky ones given that he had been using Minya to petrify, Emilia's opponent had been taken down with brute force. Many of Emilia's victims were on the ground writhing in pain, they would need to act fast to immobilize the ones that were still conscious.
"Huh, it almost reminds me of when Felix boils people's blood."
"How did you know I cyould do thyat, nyah?"
"Oh, uh… I've heard rumors. They're very descriptive."
Crusch knew he was lying, but decided to hold her tongue. She knew Felix kept that ability underwraps for a good reason.
Subaru turned back towards the group they had brought with them. At some point the group had shaken off their shock and notched arrows in their bows which they were now slowly lowering in stunned disbelief. As strange as it was to think, Emilia and Subaru had taken down the entire group in the span of a minute or so; between that and given how quickly the two had run in, the four hunters had never had a chance to participate. Or at least they hadn't until this moment, Subaru decided.
"Hey! Can you guys come here and help us tie them up?" Subaru beckoned at the top of his lungs. While waiting for them to bring the rope, Subaru noticed Emilia practically charging at him. Emilia grabbed onto Subaru's shoulders and yanked him around, as she frantically inspected his body.
"That's absolutely adorable," Naoko cooed.
"I agree, madame," Frederica nodded.
Meanwhile, Petra was fuming with jealousy at the sight. Why couldn't Subaru have shown up as a kid my age in my time period! Then I wouldn't have to compete with the rest of them!
"You're okay, right? Nothing happened to you, did it?" Emilia frantically fretted over Subaru, inspecting each and every inch of him.
"Emilia, I'm fine. It seems somehow I leveled up overnight, so it wasn't a big deal." Subaru assured her.
"Leveled up?" Emilia tilted her head to the side.
"In games when you do enough stuff, you suddenly get stronger. We call that leveling up." Subaru explained.
"Subaru, we heard that terminology in the previous episode, too," the Sword Saint spoke to his friends. "These… video games, I believe they are? What exactly are they?"
"Oh, uh, remember the TV from the previous episode? They work like that, but rather than just sitting there and just watching, you actually have to interact to play a video game. Like, sometimes, the game is to complete a mission, other times you're competing against other players, or it could be simple puzzles, the variety of games is endless!"
"And… this "level up" term?" Meili asked, equally curious.
"In a certain genre of games, you have to get stronger if you want the gameplay to progress, and that is done by increasing your levels. So, we have the slang term, "level up"."
"It wasn't really that sudden though. I used to have to be soooo gentle when I was playing with you, and lately I don't have to worry that much. Although seeing you run that fast was a bit surprising." Emilia innocently struck below the belt in what she thought was well intentioned praise.
Subaru had noticed that he hadn't had to warn her about overdoing it much at all lately. He'd assumed she was getting better at controlling her strength, and she probably was. But apparently whatever happened today, had been happening this whole time.
The soft crunching of snow being crushed underfoot announced the arrival of their companions. Somewhat pensive looks adorned their faces as they closed the gap. After an exchanged glance, Laurence stepped forward a thoroughly uncomfortable grimace on his face.
A few seconds of awkward silence and Laurence finally found his voice, "I'm sorry."
He swallowed audibly before continuing, "There's no way we can take these men prisoner as a village."
"But, you can't just let them loose!" Subaru shouted in objection.
"No, we can't. For criminals too dangerous to be allowed to be free, there is only one punishment. Especially in a village like ours where we don't even have food for a single extra person."
"Oh…" Beatrice's eyes widened in realization, as did so many others.
"Wait, what's going on?" Petra asked.
"Petra-chan… it's best that you cover your eyes and ears," Meili whispered.
"Huh? What? Why?"
"You liar!" Emilia roared, the corner of her eyes glistening. "You knew that we didn't want to kill them. You went along with our plan...and now you… now you…" Emilia's speech became stilted before being silenced all together by sobs.
"Just this once… I wanted to end things without hurting or killing anyone," Emilia's voice was as faint as the turn of a gentle breeze.
"If suffering is the only thing I can bring, then maybe I am a Witch."
"That is a load of bull." Subaru said without hesitation.
"Subaru…" Emilia started, but was cut off by everyone's least favorite princess.
"She admitted it, boy, and you should accept that." Priscilla commented on the matter, getting multiple death glares in return.
"And when are you gonna accept that stuff like racism is absolutely fucking pointless?" Subaru wasn't in the mood to deal with her bitching.
Priscilla looked like she wanted to rip Subaru's head clean off, but was interrupted by Reinhard.
"While Subaru put it rather vulgarly, I do agree with him. People should not be defined and discriminated against for physical characteristics that they have no control over." The Sword Saint gave his two cents.
"See? Reinhard has achieved enlightenment, so the rest of you who are a bit more narrow when it comes to different races can too." Subaru finished the conversation.
Subaru roughly wrapped his around her shoulder and yanked her body flush to his side, "Come on, whatever happens is on them."
The village hunters watched on silently as Emilia and Subaru turned away from them. The silence and inaction partially driven by fear, and partly driven by the desire to not have two children bear witness to a mass execution.
Moving his arm off his shoulder he grasped her hand and started guiding her as he walked into the forest. As Subaru walked past the wreckage they had lain, he noticed a particularly mauled body. The mercenary's chest had been completely run through, and around the wound was purple petrified flesh. This person had been killed by Minya. This person had been killed by Subaru.
On cue, Frederica covered Petra and Meili's eyes, and neither of them resisted. One of them still wanted to retain their innocence, while the other had already seen it all before.
Kenichi and Naoko remained silent as they saw the scene. That version of their child had killed someone, and at such a young age. No child should ever have to do something like that. It made them wonder if their own son had to take a life in the time he came to that world.
Immediately Subaru's stomach clenched, as he fell to his knees. A burning sensation danced across his cheeks, as his upper body shook violently as he began to heave. Dropped to a tripod position, Subaru vomited as his eyes watered. Subaru wanted to yell, scream, shout but the only thing that would come out of his mouth were his stomach contents.
"Subaru!" Emilia quickly crouched next to Subaru, both hands firmly on his shoulders, keeping him from collapsing face first into the snow.
"Emili-aagh," Subaru's attempt to talk was immediately cut off by a round of dry heaving.
Unsure what else to do, Emilia gently rubbed Subaru's back. A few spasms later, it seemed that his body had finally accepted that there was nothing left to expel. He leaned heavily on Emilia as he forced his quivering body back to its feet.
The Subaru in the Theater winced for his on-screen counterpart. He knew how awful it was to see someone's corpse. While he never felt remorse for the person he killed, the Japanese teenager could still empathize with the fact it wasn't something anyone should see.
The only silver linings he could see were that this version of him would experience it early on, so that at least he would be a little more ready to face the true horrors of this world. And since his relationship with his Emilia was better, at least he wouldn't face them alone.
Wordlessly, a pair of crying children entered the forest leaning on each other. The fruit of their diligent efforts to save a village with no casualties were one hundred soon to be dead bodies. Of course the other fruit would be a legend: The tale of the kind Witch and Warlock who guarded the Elior Forest and the towns surrounding it, who had wept even the deaths of murderers. But more importantly, tales of an elven girl with silver hair and amethyst eyes would spread well beyond the forest. Thus began the tale of the Witch of Frost and the Warlock of Shadows.
As the final narration ended, the screen went black, and the lights came back to life.
"""Whoa…""" Mimi, Tivey, and Ricardo said at the same time.
"The Witch of Frost and Warlock of Shadows, huh?" Otto repeated.
"That's fuckin' cool."
As everyone else was fawning over the titles given to the child versions of Emilia and Suabru, several people, namely, Crusch, Anastasia, and Priscilla, were all thinking.
Specifically, they were thinking about the previous episode.
What was that shadow? Why did it attack Subaru? Why did it keep declaring its love to him? And why did it sound like the half-elf they were competing with?
They all had their theories, but the common idea they all shared unknowingly…
Well, it would be best to forget about it.
For now, at least.
Author's Note: Subaru is walking on a wire, isn't he?
The original story is called "A Frozen Re:Start" by A Rambling Madman, on . The link is s/13730133/1/A-Frozen-Re-Start, and I highly recommend you check it out. Now, onto the comments!
NightSoro: Well, given that Shaula, Volcanica, the Witches, the Vollachia bunch, and even Reid are characters who could potentially spoil major lore drops of the show, it kinda made sense that I wouldn't include them. And as for the idea of having Subaru replace a movie character, how about I finish this before I begin any other project, alright?
RandomGuest: Well, about the whole thing involving a dragon and the Great Sage… Nah, that'd be entering into spoiler territory. Just ignore what I said.
The Wanderer: Better late than never, right? Hope you like what's in store.
Come to Jesus: What are you analyzing? And why are you apologizing? Oh, you thought that was sarcasm in the last chapter? No, no, no, I was being genuine! I'm glad that you find my work "okay"! It just means that it's totally not bad! That's a win in my book!
5queso: Yes! Someone who gets it! These are unique choices that branch off! I'm also glad you like the chapter and I promise you there will be more suffering Subaru! And don't worry about not seeing my story, it's just a big on the site, it'll fix itself.
Pryd: Does anyone get any recognition in this fandom? All jokes aside, thanks, man.
Deathenglegamers1144: Yeah, a lot of people have been telling me to add more dialogue, so I'll definitely try to improve on that. And thanks for enjoying the opening, I had to go through a bunch of songs to find the best one. See you next time! (I'm trying to help as best I can. -Infinite)
Scattershot98: Thanks for the complement! I think your answer on what a meme is would only make Garfiel even more confused. Anyway, enjoy the original source material!
calderoneric758: Pretty sure it's spelled "Elior Forest."
GRDN-EXTC-(Lumina): No Halo references here, please. I don't get them. Unless they're from Red vs Blue, in which case, keep them coming! (LIFE FINDS A WAY! -Infinite)
Gomy_el_camaleon: 10/10? What an honor! I'm glad you loved the opening! Also, the whole cutting thing was just to squeeze the best parts of the story into the runtime.
halt_and_catch_fire: Thanks for understanding some of the strains of production. Also, one of the planned stories ended up getting scrapped, so who knows? Maybe I'll use one of the stories you recommended to me! I'll have to ask the authors first. Later!
A special thanks to Infinite the Celestain for helping me in making this story, and for being an all-around great guy! Thanks for reading, and we'll see you all next time!
- Ernalore
Next time:
What if the Witch of Envy never existed?
OR
What if Subaru Natsuki was born the opposite gender?
