Chapter 3: Return by Death

They were all there, by the foot of the Pleiades Watchtower. Save for two. Some among them would say that they were the most vital ones of the Emilia Camp, but they never held such discriminations among themselves. They were all equal; they would treat each other with that same level of equality.

This is why the seven of them were discussing where Subaru and Rem had gone.

"Please, you two, where are Subaru and Rem? Tell me, please," Emilia asked at the end of their discussion.

Beatrice turned to the other person that shared a connection with one of the lost, Ram. Bearing a concerned expression, they turned back to face Emilia's worried one.

"It is unusual, I suppose."

"Unusual?" Anastasia Hoshin butt in. "Wha' could be so unusual 'bout it?"

Letting her eyes fall, Beatrice slowly raised her hand to the sky, pointing at it.

"That is where Betty's Subaru is, in fact."

"The… sky?" Emilia realized, turning pale at Beatrice's implications. "Why would Subaru be in the sky?"

"Betty doesn't know for sure, in fact," Beatrice replied, a downcast expression on her face as he brought her hand down. "He is very far away, in fact. Betty can barely sense his presence. It's surprising to Betty that a Shamac could send someone this far away, I suppose."

"Is he safe?" Emilia hastily added.

"He is, in fact. Betty doesn't understand how, but he's safe despite being in the sky."

"If what Betty is saying is true, then I am surprised too," Eridna added from around Anastasia's neck. "This would mean that there is a land in the sky. Have there been any records of such places?"

"Yes, in fact," Beatrice replied. "There are records of large masses of land in the sky called planets. However, none of those 'planets' can permit life to live in them. Betty's Subaru is also much further away than them, I suppose."

"It is the same case with Rem," Ram added. "I know she's alive, but she is too far away for me to sense anything from her. Synesthesia is not built to carry through such far distances."

Everyone turned their faces down upon hearing that comment from the pink-haired maid.

"So, the~n," Meili added, not noticing the growing tension in the area. "How're we gonna f~ind Onii-chan?"

Beatrice gripped her fist in frustration. She wondered to herself if there was anything that she could do to help her contractor.

Julius gently cleared his throat, dissipating the air slightly. "Could it be that Subaru and Rem were taken to a land beyond the Great Waterfall?"

"The Great Waterfall?" Emilia replied. "Isn't that to our east?"

"Yes, but I am talking about what Subaru means when he said, 'beyond the Great Waterfall'," Julius explained. "He had told us that he came from another world, we had assumed that he meant the Great Waterfall, and he accepted it. What if he actually came from this… City in the Sky?"

Emilia blinked in surprise. "Are you suggesting that Subaru is back in his home?"

"I don't know for certain, but it is a possibility," Julius replied. "In any case, we should still try to establish contact with him. We can't rule out the possibility that he is in another strange world."

"Betty will do everything she can, I suppose. I will make sure that Betty's Subaru is safe, along with the blue-haired one."

"Please bring us your results as soon as possible, Beatrice-sama. I would also like to affirm my sister's safety, Barusu's too."

'Subaru, you dunderhead,' Emilia chided in her mind. 'I reeaaly hope you're okay.'

"LET'S HIGHTAIL IT OUTTA HERE!"

At this moment in the world of Teyvat, Natsuki Subaru was running away from a large horde of hilichurls, Paimon floating close behind him.

"Subaru! We can't get anywhere by simply running away! We need to fight them!"

"There's almost twenty of them! And that goddamn Mitachurl! How the hell are we gonna fight that?!"

"P-Paimon doesn't know! You're the useful one!"

"Oh, now you're calling me useful?!"

Subaru hastily loosened the cloth around his neck with gritted teeth; his clothes were still drenched from when Paimon threw him into the water earlier. He had already thrown his scarf away upon finding it hindering his movement. However, he still kept running, despite the weight of the clothes on him.

"How the hell are we gonna lose these guys?" Subaru commented as he turned back to look at the group coming for them. He paled as he noticed them parting ways to reveal a charging Mitachurl coming straight for them.

"Oh no, not again!" Subaru yelped as he jumped out of the way of the incoming Mitachurl.

'And now he's going to twirl his axe around.'

As he had expected, the Mitachurl swung around, slashing its blade around itself. Subaru deftly stepped away from the slash, now making sure that his hand didn't get caught up by the blade.

"Let's go, Paimon!"

"Help!"

Subaru froze upon hearing that shrill voice calling for him. Looking down, he noticed Paimon on the floor, roughed up with the collision onto the surface of it, the Mitachurl looming over her.

"PAIMON!" Subaru yelled out as he unlatched his whip once more. Thrusting the tip at the Mitachurl, Subaru barely felt the grip leaving his still wet fingers, making him lose hold of the whip.

The reduced impact of the whip did not faze the monster in front of him. Looking down at Paimon, the Mitachurl lifted its heel up, ready to crush her beneath.

"No, you don't!" Subaru yelled as he leapt over the back of the Mitachurl, grabbing onto his fur and pulling it out. The Mitachurl yelled from the sudden weight and started to shake it off. Subaru refused to let go, holding on for dear life.

'I'm not going to let Paimon d-!'

Pain.

Blood was trickling down his arm.

Subaru's mind froze despite his still firm grip. Looking up, he found the cause for the sudden injury.

An arrow was sticking out of his palm.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Subaru yelled out as he clutched onto the arrow, vigorously pulling it out.

However, he soon realized that that was a poor decision.

For now, he was falling down to the ground, free of the Mitachurl, allowing him to kill Paimon.

The moment Subaru hit the ground, another volley of arrows found him. He couldn't count them; he couldn't bother to do so. Most of them were on his right arm, torso and right leg, but the most agonizing among them was the lone one that caught his neck.

As Subaru laid there, bleeding out, slowly finding it harder and harder to breathe, he lackadaisically dropped his head to the side. At that moment, he witnessed a moment that broke whatever hope he had left in his heart.

The Mitachurl ruthlessly stomped a wailing Paimon underneath his foot, making her burst into a small cloud of linked stars that slowly rose to the oranging sky above.

'P-Paimon… no…'

Upon seeing that sight, Subaru couldn't find it in him to keep on breathing.

'Wow… I'm ridiculously tired now… must be the blood loss talking… I can't even talk properly…'

Through his squinted eyes, he noticed the Mitachurl standing over him as well.

'It's… that time already, huh? I thought I could hold out a while longer. I'm so sorry, Paimon.'

The Mitachurl hefted its axe over its shoulder, just like in Subaru's memories.

"Sorry… Rem…"

Natsuki Subaru died to the axe of a Mitachurl.

"Subaru? Subaru!"

Gasping out loud, Subaru came back to reality upon hearing a shrill, cute voice calling out for him.

"Are you okay? You keep on zoning out. What's going on?"

'Paimon…'

Subaru finally noticed the fairy loli by his side. His mouth went dry upon seeing her.

"P-Paimon… you're alive…!"

"H-Huh? Of course, Paimon is alive! You seriously deserve an ugly nickname, don't you – ACK!"

Suddenly, Paimon found herself pulled in by Subaru for a hug. The size difference made it seem as if Subaru was hugging a small doll, something that could have made any other person laugh if they saw it. However, for Paimon, it was entirely different.

"H-Hey, get off! I can't breathe!"

"Paimon! H-How are you alive?! How am I alive?!"

"What are you talking about?! Why are you thinking that we should be dead?!"

Subaru's grip on Paimon slackened, letting Paimon take her chance to escape Subaru's grip by flying away.

"Alright, now, you're going to explain what's going on, mister! I thought we were going to go ahead to Monstadt!"

Subaru blinked in surprise. Turning his head, he noticed the same statue from earlier. The one that he had used as a marker to keep away from the hilichurls. The Statue of the Seven.

"We're… back here? No, this can't be a coincidence…"

Subaru started to scratch his head in confusion.

"Hey, Paimon," Subaru asked, turning his head back to meet hers. "Do you remember meeting a group of hilichurls and a mitachurl?"

"Umm… no, but there could be hilichurls ahead of us. Paimon doesn't think that there will be a mitachurl, though. Wait, how do you know about hilichurls and mitachurls?!"

Blinking in surprise, Subaru finally connected the dots. 'That wasn't a dream I had back then, nor was this. Those events… they've actually happened. Is this the power given to me because I came to this world? The ability to…'

Looking back at Paimon with her infuriated expression, Subaru couldn't help but feel a small twinge in his heart.

'I think… I can tell her at least.'

"Paimon… I think I actually do have an ability," Subaru explained. "I have the power… to go back in time when I d-"

"I love you."

Subaru couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He was frozen. He was immobile. He heard her again. Why was he hearing her again? Why is she here? Was this something that happens at this time? No matter what I do? Why is she doing this?'

A shadowy hand reached out from oblivion, just like before. Phasing through his chest, Subaru felt the hand cradle his heart once more. Just enough to send Subaru's psyche to the border of madness.

As the world returned to normal, Subaru felt the pain spiking from his chest, and collapsed onto his knees to regain his breath.

"Subaru! What happened?!" Paimon yelled from nearby.

Wheezing to the floor for a while, Subaru started to forcefully hit his own chest with a balled fist. It hurt like hell, but it was helping sate his sudden panic attack. In moments, Subaru was able to breathe a lot better than before. After all, after having experienced that hell once, it was easier to handle. Subaru still did not want to experience it, however.

"I-I'm fine, Paimon. Thanks for worrying," Subaru managed to say as he stood back up. Holding his face with his hands, Subaru let out shuddered breaths.

"Paimon, we need to run. An army of hilichurls is going to show up here, along with a mitachurl."

"What? Does this have something to do with what you were going to tell me? And how do you know that, Stinky Space?!"

"I-I just do!" Subaru explained, not wanting to explain the true source of his information after his experience with that witch. "Please, you need to trust me, alright?"

Paimon looked at Subaru with confusion. In time, her expression fell to an exasperated sigh.

"Fine. Paimon will come with you. But they – Hey!"

"Paimon! You're the absolute best!" Subaru yelled out as he did a complete 180 and grabbed Paimon from the air to twirl her around.

"AAaaaAAaaAAHhh, Paimon's getting dizzy!"

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry," Subaru chuckled as he dropped Paimon onto his shoulder. "Let's get out of here before those assholes show up again, alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Paimon mumbled with closed eyes as she gripped onto Subaru's damp coat.

Subaru ran up to the edge of the small island he was on, only to find himself surrounded by water on all sides.

"Well, they do say, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'"

Bracing himself, Subaru leapt into the water. Swimming as fast as he could to the other end, he finally emerged on the other end of the path that they were supposed to take.

"YA!"

"There they are."

Draining his clothes as much as he could, Subaru kept running away from the group of incoming hilichurls.

Paimon's eyes widened as she looked back from Subaru's shoulder. It was exactly as he had said. There was a large group of hilichurls there, along with a Blazing Axe Mitichurl.

'Oh no, oh no, he was right!'

Gulping, Paimon thrust herself out of Subaru's shoulder and started flying alongside him.

"Come on!" she yelled as she sped along. "We need to keep going!"

"Thanks for stating the obvious!" Subaru yelled, picking up the pace.

Upon hearing a thwip in the distance, Subaru immediately skipped a step to the side. He paled as he noticed the arrow that landed where he once stood.

'Holy shit, I can't believe that dying is keeping me from dying!'

With Subaru's constant maneuvers around the hilichurls' arrows, the two ended up back on the beach they were in at the start in quick time. Subaru gasped as he slowed to a stop, Paimon grabbing onto his shoulder as well.

"Phew, we should have lost them," Paimon spoke up in between gasps. "Hilichurls tend to keep close to their camps, so we don't need to worry about them attacking us here."

A grunt sounded.

Subaru's eyes widened in horror as that familiar grunt reached his ears. Out of pure instinct, Subaru grabbed Paimon and jumped out of the way, making sure to jump even further than he normally would.

Sure enough, where Subaru once stood was now a large, hulking mitachurl. The group of hilichurls weren't too far away from them, either.

Subaru's jaw slackened upon seeing the mitachurl in front of him. Images of his death kept replaying in his head, and the mere image of Death was horrifying enough to render Subaru frozen in his tracks.

However, lucky for him, someone was able to wake him up from his stupor.

"Subaru!" Paimon yelled after pulling on his hair, making the boy yelp in pain. "We need to swim!"

"Swim?!" Subaru yelled back in reply, albeit while running to the seawater. "Why swim?!"

"They can't swim! We'll be safe from them there!"

Widening his eyes in surprise, Subaru picked up his pace and dove into the water of the beach. He could immediately make out the difference in the texture of the water; the freshwater stream around the Statue weighed onto his clothes more than his skin. However, this seawater stuck to his body like a sheen of veneer. Despite that uncomfortable feeling, he was grateful that the salt in the water helped him stay afloat better, allowing him to swim faster without losing breath.

Subaru didn't look back as he swam; he kept going. His arms were aching, his muscles were screaming for relief, yet he kept pushing on.

"That's it, stop!"

Upon hearing Paimon's voice, Subaru gasped as he slowed down to a mid-water stop. Slightly fearing what he would see, Subaru turned around to see the whereabouts of the hilichurls.

Sure enough, the hilichurls were all sinking into the water, unable to catch their breath properly. The ones that held crossbows had also entered the water, probably because of how far Subaru had swum away. They were all drowning before them.

What was better was how the Mitachurl itself was struggling with the water around it, finally relenting and letting itself be claimed by the waters beneath. Subaru had finally defeated the army of hilichurls.

Upon seeing the death of his newly placed enemies, Subaru couldn't but heave a sigh in relief.

"Thank you, Paimon," Subaru said as he laid his body flat on the water body. "You saved me there."

"Ehehe, well – wait, Paimon didn't do anything! Subaru was the one who warned Paimon of them!"

"Yeah, but still. I didn't know how to fight them off, you were the one who told me that they couldn't swim."

"Ahaha, well, Paimon thinks – SUBARU, LOOK OUT!"

"Huh?"

Cold.

Everything was cold.

Subaru couldn't move. No, something was over his skin, preventing him from moving. Threatening to tear his skin off if he did. Moreover, it already felt like it was biting into him.

His breathing hurt from the cold air entering. His eyes stung from the frost building on it, yet the torture lied in how he couldn't blink. He couldn't do anything as Paimon hovered over his body, almost protecting him.

Only to be sent flying back into the water by shards of ice, freezing her as well.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Subaru's ears couldn't hear, but he could briefly feel the motion through the sheet of ice underneath him as the culprit made its way to his view.

'The slime…!'

Sure enough, the slime from earlier stood against him, standing above water in its crowned glory. Bounding to turn back, the slime furrowed its white eyes at Subaru's frozen form.

Expanding a little, it built up something from its mouth. Like a bullet, it shot out sharp icicles from its mouth, aimed straight for Subaru's head.

And so, Natsuki Subaru was killed after being caught unawares by a Large Cryo Slime.

Gasping, Natsuki Subaru came to once more.

"Subaru? Subaru! Are you okay? You keep on zoning out. What's going on?"

'Is this hell?'

Subaru took a deep breath for himself and looked back up at the small form hovering over his side.

"Paimon…" Subaru croaked. "Can you please give me a moment? And please, don't listen in."

Paimon widened her eyes in surprise, then looked down, downcast. "Well, alright. But you better let Paimon know if it's anything important, alright?!"

Flashing a toothy, yet jittery smile, Subaru gave her a thumbs up.

Paimon gulped upon seeing Subaru's form once more but slowly drifted away from him.

'Seriously, I just met him, but I'm getting scared for him. What's going on?'

As Paimon drifted away, Subaru looked over the edge of the land into the clear reflection of himself in the water.

No scratches. No marks. A bullet was shot into his head mere moments ago, and nothing was shown for it.

Subaru gulped as he looked into the water, briefly marvelling at his uninjured face. "There is no doubt about it," he muttered to himself, making sure that Paimon couldn't hear in on him even by accident.

"I have the power to go back in time when I die. I… will call it… Return by Death."

The ensuing memories that flooded his mind were enough to make him vomit into the lake beneath him once more.

A/N: Alright, I know that you might be infuriated by this chapter for a couple reasons. One, it's very short. Two, it took a long time to come out. Three, it tells absolutely nothing about the overarching story. These are my personal dislikes about this chapter, so I want to quickly justify myself.

This is a setup chapter. Subaru needs to identify his ability to Return by Death and figure out what he would do with it. That's what the first Arc of Re: Zero did, after all. But in order to properly learn from it, he has to struggle with a couple of deaths. Also, there's nothing in this chapter other than death and that one moment with the Pleiades team at the top. There was no need to make it any longer than it had to be, so I kept it short. Finally, the reason why it took so long was because of a new tradition that I had set to my uploads. I would finish the first draft of the next chapter before uploading the current one. I was already done with my first draft of this chapter when I uploaded Chapter 2, so I was working on Chapter 4. And I struggled a bit with it, mainly because I was experimenting with different directions that I could take the story. In any case, I've recently finished the first draft for Chapter 4, and I'm pretty proud of it, honestly. I'll need to work on it some more and make Chapter 5 before I can upload it.

Now, onto the massive review list!

Pleyades0104: Thanks!

Grimlock987: I don't have plans for her just yet. I'll see if I can add her in later, probably once I read her character bio.

Maximum Rhapsody: Sorry, but I cannot respond to that without spoilers. Just know that there's a lot more going on here than Gluttony.

The Heretic Slayer 69: I honestly think that it's out of character for Subaru to identify the wrongdoings of Emilia. Even if he does, he would just forgive her. I do agree with the dispute between his potential crushes in Teyvat and Emilia, and I am planning to implement that in the future. However, the choice between Teyvat and Lugunica could go either way.

Koko: This is technically a spoiler, but it's a pretty obvious one, so I'm not afraid to talk about it. Yes, he will. There is a whole arc for it. Also, writing 999,999 deaths would be too painful for me. I pretty sure I'd die from either depression or carpel tunnel or boredom.

Lancer died: I've already got a plan for weapons that he could use, but he has to get to Monstadt for that first. Also, I do know that dying repetitively can be boring, mainly because I hate repetition. It's also why I don't like this chapter. However, unnecessary deaths can be useful to build up to a plot point in the future, mainly because of the damage that it can cause in Subaru's heart.

SomeRandomMexican: I may talk about other characters from time to time like I did in this chapter, but only Subaru and Rem are in Teyvat with my current plans. And thanks for the review!

son jamata: Thanks for that, but with all the other reviews, I am starting to consider that Subaru would have small crushes on the girls of this world as well. He is a blank slate in this world, after all. I may not write about it because of my romantic inexperience, but I can try. However, Subaru's primary goal would be to find Rem, no matter what.

anouardz428: Sorry, but a Subaru x Satella ship won't work here. There has to be a certain preset for that, and I haven't ever considered introducing Satella without the Witch of Envy in this story. So, I don't think it's gonna happen. I will keep an open mind to it, though.

Drcaus: Subaru can Return by Death still, and the Archons won't completely know about his power. I'll come to that when the time comes. Also, Subaru won't gain visions, sadly. I will explain the reasoning for that in upcoming chapters as well. As for your ship, I can accept Ganyu and Ayaka, but not Barbara. She may be an idol, but she's a nun as well. For that reason, I won't be considering her as a choice. Ayaka was one that I had confirmed for when he would travel to Inazuma, but Ganyu's still in the contest for Liyue. However, thinking about it now, Ganyu has the closest resemblance to Rem out of everyone else, so maybe...

Steppe14: Thank you for understanding. I can imagine him with certain other girls from Teyvat, but as I've stated in many other review responses, they will contrast with his love for Emilia and Rem. At this point, he's forgotten everything about Emilia, though.

Ain: I, uhh, don't want to think about it. Writing those fights will be an absolute pain for someone like me who hates repetition.

SentinalSlice: That line was actually inspired by the canon Re: Zero one, thanks for noticing. I won't talk about the authorities yet, though. Spoilers. I hope you enjoy the rest of it!

I'dMakeANameButIDon'tWantTo: (I'm gonna be responding to your review paragraph-wise) Thanks for following, I hope you enjoy the rest of it.

That was a concern of mine as well, mainly because I personally avoid such stories too. However, I'm planning to change quite a bit. The Traveller was strong enough to underplay the severity of certain enemies in the game, a good example is Stormterror. The first Stormterror fight was ridiculously easy, after all. However, with Subaru, you'll see the true threat that all of these monsters pose. That should be obvious upon seeing Subaru die against Mitachurls and Large Slimes.

I'm glad to hear those comments. I started writing this to train myself into writing Subaru's character, which is one that I am not used to. I'm also still getting used to the pacing for this story, so you'll find some hiccups with it here and there. I can already assume that you'd hate this chapter, it's too short and it's paced too quick. I'm going to do better in the next one, don't worry. I had to do this out of necessity. Also, if you can, please point out the grammatical mistakes. I may not change my previous chapters because of them, but I can try to not repeat them in the future.

Yep, Subaru's and Paimon's interactions are one of the highlights of this story as well as one of my biggest headaches to make accurately. I don't really understand your second line here, though. Which story do you mean for me to unravel and to which cast? We're dealing with multiple parties since this is a crossover, so it's hard to make sense of this.

Glad to have your rating. 7 out of 10 is not bad, although it does tell me that I can do a lot better. Please keep the criticism coming.

Sekryuushintei: Here it is. Sorry if it's bad, though.

HeitFait: I've already addressed it a little in this chapter, but I'm gonna delve more into it in the future. Glad to hear about your approval for the lost memories, but I should reiterate that I'm not trying to replicate the Hall of Memories. Seeing the quotes on your 'similar', I think you get that too.

And that's all for reviews. My next sem starts in a week, so my upload schedule may be slowed even more because of it. I'll try my best to keep up, though.

Next up, Subaru will come to terms with his new memories, or will he? He will also finally encounter a human being from Teyvat! I think you know who it will be... Whether you know her or not, I'll see you next chapter.