"This is it."

Both Subaru and Beatrice just arrived in front of a large ominous building. It was several times larger than Roswaal's manor and there was no one in sight around the establishment.

Beatrice was holding onto Subaru's hand tightly. This is the first time exploring beyond the Mather's domain and this place certainly didn't leave the spirit a good first impression. "Betty's Subaru has a lousy taste in homes, I suppose."

"This is the only place I can feel safe at." Subaru responded in his same emotionless voice he had been.

Beatrice tensed up, immediately regretting her choice of words. Subaru was that person. Why would she speak ill of his home?

"Besides," Subaru continued. "It's more like a headquarters if anything."

Beatrice's grip tightened around Subaru's hand. "Sorry… I should've been more considerate." Her voice was very shaky as she said this.

Subaru turned to Beatrice. He could see her hand visibly shaking. "Don't worry about it. It isn't a big deal." Normally, such a belittling comment would've enraged Subaru but seeing Beatrice with all her pretty colors was more than enough to let it slide.

The two continued forward into the large establishment. Beatrice's gaze was darting all over the place, examining the establishment as this would be her new home from now on. All in all, it wasn't all too bad. Sure, the place had a very cryptic vibe but everything looked surprisingly neat and organized.

However, the spirit's evaluation was put to an abrupt halt as a figure seemed to slip into her line of sight from the corner of her eyes. Out of nowhere, what looked like a black and gray wolf wearing a black kimono suddenly stood in front of the two.

Before the wolf man could put a word in, the startled Beatrice jumped in front of Subaru and lifted her hand threateningly to this aggressor, preparing an attack.

"Miny-"

Before Beatrice could finish her incantation, Subaru placed a hand over her shoulder, stopping her. "He's not an enemy. He just works here."

Beatrice looked to her Subaru then back to the wolf man. After realizing they aren't in any real danger, she crossed her arms and made a humph sound. "It's his fault for appearing without warning, in fact!"

The wolf man, finally having a chance to speak, let out a hearty chuckle. "I was just trying to welcome you back, boss."

Subaru sighed. "Beatrice, this is Halibel. He's my bodyguard. Halibel, this is Beatrice. She'll be living here from now on."

The wolf man who was introduced as Halibel casually waved to Beatrice. "Hey, little miss. Sorry for scaring you like that."

"B-Betty wasn't scared! I was only ensuring Subaru's safety, in fact." Beatrice answered in typical tsundere fashion.

Not following up with the spirit's response, Halibel turned to Subaru. "I can see why you didn't want me to come with you now. I didn't think you were the type to abduct little girls."

Clearly offended, Beatrice was quick to defend Subaru. "Don't make assumptions, boy. Betty willingly chose to follow her Subaru."

Halibel chuckled again. "It's ok, little miss. I'm just joking with-"

"Stop it…" Subaru suddenly said. His lifeless stare looked much scarier than it already was and this was enough to even give Beatrice a little scare.

Halibel scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that, boss. So, did you want me to leave you and the little miss alone?"

Immediately recovering from the scare, Beatrice immediately stared daggers at Halibel. "I never gave you permission to use such-"

Once again, Beatrice was stopped as Subaru clenched the little girl's hand a little tighter. It was clear that he really wasn't in the mood for this. "Beatrice… Not now."

Hearing Subaru's request, Beatrice immediately complied and kept herself silent.

"Halibel…" Subaru continued, "I'd appreciate it. Alert me if anything unusual happens."

Halibel simply nodded. "Got it, boss." And with that, Halibel seemed to just disappear. Beatrice was shocked as she didn't see where he went while Subaru just looked indifferent on the matter.

"Where did he go…?" Beatrice wearily asked.

"He just does that. Don't worry about it, Beatrice."

"Alright… Is there anyone else that should be noted, I wonder?"

Subaru shook his head. "No, everyone else should be normal enough. I'll show you your room now." Subaru proceeded on but Beatrice wasn't budging. Once he looked back, he noticed that the spirit looked troubled. "Beatrice?"

"That won't be necessary. Betty has already decided to stay in your room, in fact." Beatrice declared.

Subaru looked at Beatrice before sighing. "Beatrice, you can't stay in my room. I won't be able to fit another bed in there."

Still determined, Beatrice countered, "Then I have no choice but to share the same bed with you, I suppose."

For perhaps the first time in what felt like forever, Subaru got a little flustered at this. "Do you mean s-sleep with me? I couldn't do anything that indecent."

Beatrice clenched her teeth and made eye contact with Subaru. "Please… Betty's been alone for a very long time. To be alone again… I don't think I can take any more of that, I suppose."

Subaru looked at Beatrice for a little while. She had that face, the one she had when she was pleading not to leave her. Finally relenting, Subaru sighed. "Alright, I guess I'll show you my room then."

The spirit's eyes seemed to sparkle at those words and scooted herself back to Subaru's side. Subaru couldn't help but lock his eyes on her. She was just so colorful and it felt almost therapeutic holding her hand. Giving in to his urges, he used his other hand to pat Beatrice's head.

The short spirit got a little flustered and didn't do anything else besides just that. It was almost unbelievable that she didn't do anything to retaliate against this. However, a wave of guilt suddenly hit Subaru which caused him to remove his hand from Beatrice's head. What was he doing? He didn't deserve that kind of pleasure. A monster like him doesn't deserve anything as pleasant as that.

Seeing Subaru like this caused Beatrice to feel concerned. "Subaru? What's wrong?"

Hearing her voice, Subaru snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. "It's nothing. Let's go now." Even though Beatrice was still worried about her Subaru, she complied and walked beside him to his room.

It was a lengthy walk. His room was deep inside the establishment and when they finally made it, Subaru took a moment unlocking an unnecessary amount of locks on his door.

After finally getting into his room, it was surprisingly roomy. Even the bed definitely had enough room for at least two people. True, it looked as gloomy as everything else here but that was sort of a given at this point.

Beatrice approached the bed and sat herself at the edge. It was comfortable. It wasn't anywhere near the same quality as the manor's but it was still of high quality nonetheless.

"Betty is glad that you at least have decent taste in bedding, I suppose." Beatrice said as she stayed put on the bed.

Subaru stared blankly at the bed. Due to his paranoia, it was very difficult to fall asleep. The quality of the bed was mainly to help him sleep easier but it didn't have too much of an effect.

After Subaru's awkward staredown with the bed, he returned his attention back to Beatrice. "I have business I need to catch up on. Stay here and do not leave this room."

As Subaru was about to leave, Beatrice quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed his hand. "Wait!" The spirit shouted. "Betty will go with you."

Subaru shook his head. "Sorry, this is something that a little girl shouldn't see."

Beatrice puffed her cheeks. "Betty is centuries older than you, in fact!"

Seeing where this is going, Subaru sighed. "Beatrice, please listen to me. This is something I don't want you of all people to see."

"What could you possibly-" Just as Beatrice was speaking, she stopped herself as she recalled something Subaru said.

Is that person responsible for the death of countless people?

Beatrice felt a chill run through her body at the thought. Surely he didn't mean that. That person wouldn't be a murderer, would they?

Seeing Beatrice's panicked look, Subaru placed his hand on the frightened girl's shoulder. "Please, stay here."

Beatrice looked up to Subaru's cold emotionless eyes. She was scared right now. She was frightened at the very thought of what he possibly could've done.

But…

Subaru did warn her, and despite all that, she told him it didn't matter. In the end, he told her that if it didn't matter, then he is that person. He declared to her that he was that person so why would she run from her savior that freed her from that dreaded library?

The spirit clenched her fist as she resolved herself before continuing. "Betty still wants to go with you."

Subaru didn't respond immediately. Instead, he took a long look at the girl's eyes. They looked very determined. Despite all that, he still didn't want her to go. Why would he risk bringing one of the only colorful people in this colorless world.

However, he was well aware of Beatrice's loneliness. He understood that she wanted someone beside her to ease her suffering. After some careful thinking, Subaru finally reached a decision. "Fine, you can come with me. But if I tell you to return to our room, you'll have to listen to me."

"Betty will agree to your terms. However, you'll have to come back to our room soon after."

Finally reaching a compromise, Subaru nodded. "Alright, let's get going now."

--

After some time, both Subaru and Beatrice made their way to what looked like a throne room of sorts. There were a few people stationed in this room and they all looked to be very wary, especially when Subaru was in their proximity.

Subaru immediately took a seat on the throne that resided there. He would've looked very intimidating if it wasn't for the fact a little girl was holding his hand. It looked like a very bright child was holding onto their visibly miserable father.

"Ah, I didn't think the little miss was your new bodyguard, boss." A familiar voice piped up.

Beatrice nearly jumped as she saw Halibel standing beside Subaru on the opposite side from where she was standing. "Since when did you arrive?!" The flabbergasted spirit shouted towards the laid back wolf man.

Subaru let out an exhausted sigh before facing Halibel. "Halibel, she is not my bodyguard. That role solely belongs to you." He then turns to Beatrice before continuing, "Beatrice, he just does that. It's easier to not question it."

Beatrice gave Halibel a dirty look before putting her attention to Subaru. "Well, if that's what Subaru wants, then I'll put my trust in you, I suppose."

Halibel on the other hand looked to the spirit, giving her an unreadable look. "You sure she should be here, boss? I don't know if she can handle the 'cleanups'."

Subaru waved his hand dismissively. "It'll be fine, I don't plan on having any disposals today."

Halibel perked his brow. "Really? Never thought I'd hear that from you, boss."

Subaru grit his teeth and glared daggers at his bodyguard. That last comment really irked him. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Not wanting to face Subaru's potential tantrum, Halibel gave a stern nod. "Got it, sorry boss."

Subaru was still seething. Just as he was about to lash out again, he stopped as he felt Beatrice's hand trembling. At first, she was fearful over what the two meant about the cleanups and disposals. But once Subaru began lashing out and getting mad, this made the poor spirit more scared as she didn't know how to deal with this.

Seeing that scared look in Beatrice's colorful blue eyes was enough to calm Subaru down as he took a deep breath. He moved his other hand on top of the girl's head and gently patted her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Every single person in the room looked at this bizarre scene in utter shock with Halibel being the only exception as he hadn't changed his demeanor after Subaru's initial outburst.

"Don't interpret my actions that way. Betty was merely concerned for her Subaru's well-being, in fact!" Beatrice declared. She was just relieved to see Subaru's mood improve.

To Subaru, it was a little refreshing to see Beatrice's little tsundere act. After he lost his ability to see any colors, paying attention to little things like that was hard. But, seeing the little girl's breathtaking colors was more than enough to ease himself to notice those little things again.

Soon enough, in the corner of Subaru's eyes, he saw everyone staring at him. All of those untrustworthy colorless eyes locked on him.

He didn't like it.

If it weren't for Beatrice being here, Subaru would've made an example of one of them already. Luckily, the people in the room averted their eyes away immediately after they saw Subaru's terrifying eyes lock on them.

Not wanting Subaru's mood to spoil, Beatrice scooted herself a little closer to his side and quietly spoke, "Subaru, is this making you feel uncomfortable?"

Turning his attention back to the spirit, Subaru shook his head. "No, it's closer to embarrassing though." He admitted.

Beatrice could understand that reason. She had been clinging onto Subaru's hand nearly this whole time. This place her contractor called home was, in the best of words, shady. Although it seemed Subaru had everything under his control, she couldn't help but stress over his well-being.

After gathering her thoughts, Beatrice loosened her grip and followed up, "Betty can let you go then if you want. We've only been contracted for a day so taking these matters slowly is understandable, I suppose." She really didn't want to let go but Subaru's comfort outweighed that desire.

To the spirit's surprise, Subaru tightened his grip over Beatrice's hand. "It's fine. I can deal with it." Subaru said.

This gesture caused the girl's cheeks to flush red and look away. "If that is the case, then I will be kind enough to continue holding your hand, I suppose."

No one dared sneak a peek this time around and Halibel was just silently chilling.

Before Beatrice even entered this room, Subaru informed her that he was expecting to see someone from Vollachia. Considering how everything had been quiet for a rather long while, She couldn't help but wonder if scheduled meetings are usually like this. The spirit was all too familiar with the aspect of sitting around and silently waiting but with all the new changes, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious for some higher levels of attention.

Beatrice had a perfect idea to indulge this.

--

After a reasonable amount of time, someone rushed into the room and immediately bowed towards Subaru. He didn't look anything special, just some typical errand boy of sorts. "Boss, the Vollachia representative is ready to-"

The guy stopped himself as he saw a very disturbing display before him. Subaru was sitting on his throne, looking emotionless and cold hearted. However, that in itself was already the norm here. The anomaly was that a young looking girl was sitting on Subaru's lap and what's more, he didn't seem bothered in the least. The messenger was convinced that he's seeing things now.

"Ready to what?" Subaru asked during the silence.

His terrifyingly emotionless way of speaking snapped the messenger out of his thoughts and continued, "S-Sorry, boss. They're ready to see you now."

Subaru waved his hand to the side dismissively. "Good, bring them here."

Without wasting another moment, the messenger sprung back to their feet and very wearily made their way out.

Knowing what's to come, Subaru carefully lifted Beatrice off from his lap and set her down to his side where she was originally standing. The loli spirit silently stood in place. She didn't even try to hold Subaru's hand as she didn't want to make Subaru mad during the meeting.

The messenger showed back up just as quickly as their initial departure. This time around, he was escorting two others with him.

It was clear that the other two were the Vollochian representatives. However, to Subaru, they all just looked like more untrustworthy colorless individuals. The only notable difference was that one of the Vollochian representatives, the one with long hair tied in a ponytail, looked very casual and uncaring about this while the other looked far too eager to get this over with.

The latter quickly bowed to Subaru. "It's great to finally meet you, leader of the Pleiades organization. I've heard of your astounding accomplishments for Vollochia and I personally want to acknowledge your strength."

The representative with long hair shrugged. He was standing tall and didn't even show any respect. "This is him, huh? He looks scrawnier than I thought."

The one bowing clenched his teeth in annoyance. "Show some respect, Vincent himself recognizes this man to be valuable."

The representative with long hair clicked his tongue. "I haven't seen him in action so I don't really know about that."

Subaru, who was about to lose his patience with this bantering, spoke up. "Are you going to tell me why you're here or are you going to continue to waste my time?"

"R-Right, my apologies. His majesty wished to reward your contributions." The representative stood up and gestured to the long haired guy. "This here is Cecilus, he is the first ranking divine general. Under his majesty's orders, he is to lend you his aid towards your ambition for the next three months."

Subaru turned to the guy who was referred to as Cecilus. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, I was told to listen to what you had to say within reason." Cecilus smiled before continuing, "I did hear you can be pretty ruthless though so I got a little curious."

Subaru lifted his brow. "Really? And knowing that, you still decided to show up?"

Cecilus let out a small chuckle from this. "I am known as the Blue Lightning of Vollochia. Nothing scares me."

At this point, the other representative was getting angered with this whole exchange. "Cecilus! Watch your damn tongue! You're lucky you're even getting an opportunity to redeem yourself after your last mistake!"

Cecilus ignored him and didn't comment this time around. Subaru was fast to understand some motives from them. "Cecilus, I assure you that under my wing, you'll obtain glory beyond your wildest dreams."

Based on the little interactions he had as well as understanding Vollochia's customs, he knew he shouldn't bring up this mistake and flat out offer opportunities for glory. Subaru's intuition proved to be correct as Cecilus turned his attention away from the other representative and towards Subaru with interest. "Glory, huh? And what exactly do you have in mind for that?"

The scary eyed boy nodded. "I'll be needing a lot of powerful people to be taken care of. Many of which are considered to be the strongest in all of Lugnica."

This sounded very enticing to the Vollochian divine general. With another chuckle, Cecilus started, "Well, I was told to listen to whatever you had to say. I guess I have no choice then."

Subaru turned back to the other representative briefly after his exchange with Cecilus. He had a bad feeling about that one. He will be returning back to Vollochia and report back to Vincent. What if he betrays him? What if this was a ploy to get his guard down?

Subaru flipped a coin.

"Beatrice, go to my room."

"Right now? Betty isn't sure that it's safe to leave you alone at this time." Beatrice was wary of these two, especially the man with long blue hair. She just had a really bad feeling about him.

Subaru placed his hand over his spirit's shoulder. "Please. I'll see you there shortly."

Beatrice looked at Subaru for a moment before silently nodding. She proceeded to leave the room without saying another word. As much as she wanted to stay, she did promise to listen to Subaru.

"You said that you'll do anything I tell you to, correct?" Subaru asked Cecilus.

"That's what I was told. But if it turns out you're boring, I'll just go back to Vollochia."

Subaru didn't exactly know what this man considered to be boring, but he still went on with his little test. He pointed to the other representative. "Your first job is to kill him."

This command definitely caught the divine general's interest. However, the representative in question wasn't exactly happy to hear this. "What is the meaning of this?! Even making such jokes could be considered an act of war-"

The representative tried to continue speaking but it felt as if his breath was swiped away from him. He placed a hand over his neck as if to check what happened but he froze still and dropped to his knees. His head then slipped clean off his shoulders before his body even hit the floor, blood finally splattering across the carpet.

Everyone around looked in shock as the representative was suddenly beheaded. The only ones who didn't change their demeanor in the least were Subaru and Halibel.

"Are you going to clean that?" Subaru calmly asked, pointing at the mess before him.

The men shook out of their state of shock and hurryingly started to clean up. Cecilus on the other hand wore a very happy smile. "Subaru, was it? I feel like this is the start of the first chapter of an exciting story."

"Just call me boss…"

Halibel let out a quiet sigh. "So much for no disposals."

--

Waiting alone in Subaru's room felt a lot longer than Beatrice reasonably would've liked. During her time in the forbidden library, it felt as if a whole year would go by in a blink. But now, this feeling she had seemed to compromise her sense of time. Perhaps it's because the person she is waiting for is real.

Yes, that must be it, Beatrice thought. After all, she gave up on 'that person' to show for a long time. Deep down, she believed 'that person' wasn't ever going to find her. But, right now, she was overjoyed as she couldn't stop frolicking at the fact that it was finally over.

Too caught up in her thoughts, Beatrice wrapped her little arms around one of Subaru's pillows and squealed as loudly as she could into it. "Hurry up, Subaru! It's rude to leave a maiden alone for so long, in fact!" She complained to herself.

Almost as if her prayers were answered, the door suddenly opened and Subaru slowly and cautiously walked in. "Hey, Beatrice. Sorry for taking so long. I got a little caught up with something."

Beatrice instantly sat herself up straight and crossed her arms. "Hmph! A little doesn't even begin to describe it! Next time, Betty will have to give you a time limit."

"Yeah, sorry."

Seeing how emotionless Subaru's tone still was, Beatrice let out a sigh. "All is forgiven, I suppose."

There was a small moment of silence. Without saying a word, Subaru went to his closet and pulled out a blanket, lying it down on the floor.

Beatrice looked to the blanket then back to Subaru. "Do you intend to let your cute contracted spirit sleep on the floor, I wonder?"

"No, you're going to sleep on the bed."

That answer briefly confused her for a moment but quickly caught on to Subaru's true intentions

Before he could finish setting up, Beatrice stopped him. "Betty will not permit her Subaru to sleep on the floor like some kind of house pet. The only acceptable option you have is to share the same bed with me, I suppose."

Subaru let out an exhausted sigh. "Cmon Beatrice, people would get the wrong idea if they saw me sleeping with a little girl."

"Don't you dare call Betty a little girl! I'll have you know I'm centuries older than you, in fact." Beatrice crossed her arms and let out a loud humph. Before Subaru could respond, Beatrice recalled his behavior towards everyone today. "Also… Do you truly care what they think of you, I wonder?"

Subaru stayed silent. After all, she was right. He held the most power here and when it came down to it, he didn't care about anyone here with the exception of a very small select few.

Without saying a word, he moved the blanket back in the closet and got on his bed. "Alright, you win."

Happy with the result, Beatrice quickly got in the bed with Subaru. "Betty's glad you've finally come to see reason."

The two got themselves comfortable in the bed. Beatrice gently held Subaru's hand and softly said, "Goodnight, Subaru."

Subaru looked at Beatrice and saw that she already fell asleep. Subaru moved to place his hand on top of the girl's head but stopped midway. After a moment of hesitation, he moved his hand back to his side.

"Goodnight, Beatrice…

And… Welcome to Pandemonium."